The New Girl
by Weatherbug02
Summary: A new girl with a passion for being a musketeer comes to Paris, but Corinne wavers on whether they could trust her or not.
1. Hello Paris

A/N: This will be my first full length story and I would appreciate if you would let me know how it is so far! Thanks!

Layla grunted while her maids tightened the strings of her corset. Or as she liked to put it: the harrowing torture device.

She sighed, "Must it be so tight!"

"I'm sorry, mademoiselle, but your aunt, Madame Catherine, requests it." Said Madeleine, her maid.

Layla de Chanel of the French province, Artois is a beautiful maiden of nineteen. She has a headful of curly raven colored hair with jet black eyes that contrast against her pale skin. She wears a skirt of navy blue with a few petticoats underneath, a matching front tie corset, and a white, long-sleeved shirt.

Layla adjusted the skin tight device and felt years of concealed anger coming up to the surface, "I don't give a-" She then realized what she was doing and composed herself back to the graceful, well-mannered girl everyone expected. "Hint of anger towards my dearest auntie Catherine."

"Layla, darling!" Called Annemarie, the cook, "Your breakfast is ready and getting cold!"

"Yes, Madame Chef!" She called back and quickly made her way down to the dining room, navigating the extensive halls of the Chanel manor.

Once in the dining room, she took her place at her father's left hand side of the table. Isabel and Coraline, her little sisters, sat next to her. Her brothers and cousins, Alexandre, John, Antoine, and Emile, were all sitting in front of her.

Isabel is a fifteen year old with strawberry blonde hair and laurel green eyes. She loves dancing, singing, and painting landscapes on her walls even though it makes her aunt Catherine livid. Coraline is eleven years old with dark auburn hair, and a fiery temper of which she is scolded for, time and time again.

Alexandre and John are Layla's brothers. Alexandre is twenty one with dark titan hair and hazel eyes, while John, Layla's twin, has light blonde hair and blue eyes. Her cousins, Antoine and Emile, both have light blonde hair, turquoise eyes and are completely evil and wicked and positively atrocious. Or, at least in her opinion.

As they were served, tension and anxiety built up inside the pale girl's body. It was all because of one question. The question that had been dancing the tip of her to tongue for nearly a month now, and she promised herself today would be the day that she finally said what she wanted to literally scream out for what felt like an eternity.

"Papa," She took a deep breath, "I want to go to Paris."

As the words finally came out of the dark-eyed girl's mouth, a familiar amount of gasps came out of the rest of the people in and around the room. It happened every time she had an improper idea that her father and such didn't like.

"Why, _ma chéri?" _Asked her dumbfounded father.

She had expected this. "Because, papa, I want to see the beautiful city to the south. I want to see the province of all provinces. And, I want to meet King Louis. Please papa."

Her father sighed, "Why must you be so eccentric?" He rubbed his temple and thought about it for a moment, "No, Layla."

"But papa-"

"Layla!" He cut her off getting angrier second-by-second. "This is not a subject I am willing to negotiate on! You are not going to Paris. Ever!"

Layla was nearly ready to burst into a sobbing mess. She knew that her father would not embrace the idea of her leaving, but seeing him yell at her made her want to cry more than being forbidden to go to the one place she wanted to go to the most.

She looked around. She saw Isabel and Coraline on the brink of tears, while Alexandre and John were staring at the quarrelling pair with wide eyes. Antoine and Emile just wore evil smirks which just happened to oddly complement each other's perfect complexion. She was not going to lose this argument.

"Yes…. I am." She whispered softly.

She said it so softly, it was nearly intelligible in the middle-aged man's ears, "What? Layla, stop speaking so softly! You know how I feel about the mumbling!" He enraged.

Her temper rose also, "I said, 'Yes…..I…..am." She spoke, making sure to emphasize the words she wanted, to make sure he understood completely.

Her father pounded his fist on the table and bolted up from his chair, "What?"

She felt afraid, but excited at the same time seeing her father's temper rise. She didn't know why, but she felt an odd feeling bliss just making someone mad. She didn't know if that was good, or bad, but she honestly didn't care. Not one bit.

"You heard me!" She yelled.

Her father finally had enough and sent her to her room.

"Gladly." She said simply and walked off, making her way through the extensive halls of the manor. 

When Layla had gone, Layla's father simply sat in his chair sighing at the way everything had just went. He felt horrible, but at the same time relieved with his decision of not letting her go to Paris alone. He was torn with himself.

He sighed. "There's just not something right about that girl." He thought, "Whether she's emotionally distressed, or even mentally insane, I have no idea. Whatever it is, it's not good." 

Layla paced around her room. "Father thinks that I'm crazy." She laughed, "No, I'm not. I'm a genius. None of those things I said were true and he knows it. I don't care about the King of France. Not a bit. I just want to be one of the amazing musketeers. Now that the wall has broken down thanks to those other girls, I've actually got a shot."

The girl took off her corset, white shirt, chemise, skirt, stockings, and petticoats until she was down to her plain camisole and white drawers. She ransacked her armoire until she found a fresh white shirt, a white chemise, black fitted riding trousers, corset, boots, and white stockings. She scrambled into the attire and headed towards the kitchen.

Once there, she looked at the chef. "Madame Chef, I need two days' worth of biscuits and water."

The older woman looked confused, "Why would you need such a thing, miss?"

Layla looked annoyed, "Do not question my actions." She snapped. "You forget you are working for me!"

The cook now got angry. "No, I work for your father, not you, so you cannot fire me without his consent."

Layla scoffed, "Just get me what I asked for and I'll leave." She said and the cook obeyed. Twenty four biscuits, and four mason jars of water.

Layla left the kitchen, went back to her room and grabbed a leather bag. She put a sack of a hundred crown pieces inside of it and the food and water. She headed out towards the stable and she found her horse, Philippe, saddled up, and next to him are Isabel and Coraline.

"Izzy, Cor! What are you doing here?" she asked excitedly.

They both smiled, "Coming to see you off!" They said in unison.

Layla was about to cry. She enveloped her sisters into a big group hug. "I'll miss you." She whispered, tears streaming down her pale face.

"Us too." Isabel said.

"We'll write to you all the time!" Coraline exclaimed.

Layla smiled, "As will I." She broke out of the hug and climbed on her horse.

Layla reared up and bolted out of the stable, leaving a trail of dust behind. As she rode, she remembered all of the great memories she has had at the old manor. The snowball fights, hide-and-go-seek, antique toys. She was going to miss the place, but she knew that Paris would have new opportunities for her to pursue.

"Goodbye, Artois, hello, Paris!" She smiled and pushed ahead leaving the old manor behind.

A/N: Like? Don't like? Please review! Thank you so much for reading!

P.S: Corinne and the others will be in this story!


	2. Four Plus One More

A/N: Update time! A really hate Word right now. The tablet I'm writing on shut off twice today and it didn't save my documents! Ugh! Well, here's chapter two. By the way, if you want to know who Layla is, I am giving you hints. Two are in this chapter, the other one is in chapter one. Just try to figure them out. Okay, enjoy and review. Thanks!

Viveca, Aramina, Renée, and Corinne were just released from a not-so-taxing training with Monsieur Treville. At least for them. They all had the highest endurance and stamina compared to the men.

"Did you see Pierre's face when I came in for a stab?" Corinne asked her friends, "It was priceless!" She smiled and then suddenly shrieked. She didn't see Treville until then and he gave her a disapproving look.

"Corinne," he warned, "What did I say about being vain about your battles?"

Corinne sighed, "I know, I know. 'It is exceedingly rude to discuss my victories against the men even though they were rightfully deserved because I have more, determination, heart, stamina, drive, and style than all of them combined.'" She said with an exasperated look, making her friends try really hard to avoid laughing.

Treville rolled his eyes, "That's not what I said, Corinne." He gave her another disapproving look.

"No, but you were thinking it." And at that, the four musketeers lost it and laughed until they hurt inside.

The older man groaned, "Corinne, you-"

"Monsieur Treville," Said a male musketeer, interrupting the older man's pending lecture, "Someone requests your presence."

Treville sighed, "Tell him I'll be right there."

The young man suddenly became uncomfortable, "Actually, it's a 'her.'" Hearing those words made the four girls stop laughing and become very curious.

"Well… uh… tell 'her' I'll be right there, then." Treville said. He glanced at Corinne and the other three uncomfortably. He had nothing else to say, so he just left, leaving four, over excited girls alone.

Aramina squealed in excitement, "Is this really happening?"

Viveca returned the squeals immediately. "Yes, I think it is!" She exclaimed back and they both started dancing around.

Renée rolled her eyes, "Guys, stop. You're embarrassing yourselves." She demanded, partially annoyed. She really hated when they got like this, but she felt slightly envious of the two girls. They could make total fools out of themselves, but still have the self-confidence to stand up, head held high. She couldn't do that.

Corinne smirked, "Hey, do you guys want to eavesdrop on Monsieur Treville and this mysterious girl?" She asked mischievously. The red-head and brunette nodded with ecstatic grins while Renée groaned.

"We don't even know if that's what she is even here for, Corinne." She said.

Corinne contemplated for a moment, "Well, we'll never know unless we find out." And at that she ran out the door with the other two on her heels.

Renée groaned and rolled her eyes, "'Hey, Renée, we're going to eavesdrop on our employer, while completely ignoring you, want to tag along?" She mocked, "Corinne, that's so nice of you, I'd love to!" She ran off to join her friends.

The four girls ran around the grounds looking for Treville and the stranger. They found them in the exact same place where Corinne was originally rejected. On the balcony, facing the castle. They hid behind some plants and listened to them closely

"-musketeer must perform brave and noble acts… before becoming a musketeer." Said Treville in the exact same mannerism that he said to Corinne her first day in Paris.

"Please, just give me a chance!" Said a feminine voice.

"I'm sorry, but-"

Corinne's patience wore out, "She's just not ready, is she?" The blonde interrupted, stepping out of her hiding place with a provoked expression.

Treville looked very nervous then, "Well…. Uh…er…maybe." He stammered, making 'maybe' sound like a question more than a statement.

Corinne crossed her arms and grinned mischievously, "If I'm not mistaken, didn't His Royal Highness, King Louis, declare that everyone, including females, would get the chance to prove themselves worthy for this 'noble privilege' in a duel?" She glared at him with fiery eyes, "Or do I need to brush up on that with the King himself?" 

"No!" He said immediately. It was funny, Treville seemed genuinely afraid of this feisty nineteen year old blonde who is barely five foot nine, even though he has fought seven foot tall men with double his strength, and he still won those battles. Not with this one. Not a single person could win an argument with this bull-headed girl.

Corinne smiled, "Very good." She turned towards the silent, flabbergasted girl and motioned for her to follow.

As they were all walking away Monsieur Treville halted them, "But, Corinne," she stopped and looked back at him, "You will be the one she will duel with."

Corinne smirked, "I wouldn't have it any other way." And at that, the man left, leaving the now five girls behind.

Aramina smiled and tightly embraced the girl. "Welcome!" She practically screamed.

Renée groaned, "Aramina, let the poor girl breathe!" She exclaimed and pried the red-head off of the flabbergasted woman.

Corinne chuckled at the site of them, "Sorry, she's just a little excited."

"It's all right." She said with a laugh, "I'm Layla de Chanel of Artois." She smiled and curtsied politely.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Corinne D'Artagnan and these are my friends, Viveca, Aramina, and Renée." She said and they all exchanged smiles.

Viveca stepped up and started dragging Layla out the door, "What are you doing?" Asked Layla surprised.

"Taking you to our room. _Nous avons__pour vous faire__un look d'enfer__la__dernière fois que vous__êtes à Paris__!_" She exclaimed excitedly.

Layla was confused, "What do you mean, 'the last time I'm in Paris?'"

All four girls looked at each other nervously, "Well….."

"I can't do this.I'm going to fail!" Layla paced around the room as the other two tried to make her calm down. Aramina sat reading on her bed.

"Layla, calm down! Everything is going to be fine." Viveca comforted.

"Yeah," Renée agreed, "What's the worst that could happen. You just would fail drastically, embarrass yourself, and not be able to pursue your lifelong dream." At that Layla started to cry, earning Renée a smack with a pillow.

"Don't listen to her, Layla." Viveca said glaring at Renée, "I'm sure you'll do great."

Layla looked up, "Really?" She said with wet cheeks.

"Really." She assured her. She then heard Aramina mumbling something odd, "Aramina, what are you reading?" Viveca asked curiously.

"Onkebay abesifazaneway azalwabay okubiway. Abanyeway ayaqaphelabay amakhonoway aboway enjay amuvakay ekuphileniway unabanyekay." She replied. They all looked at her curiously, but must shook it off. It's Aramina. It doesn't mean anything.

"_Prêt__, __ensemble__, __aller__!_"

And the two were off in a heated swordfight. Clashing, and thrusting, and what-not. Everyone was there watching the fight against the two women. One person of which couldn't take his eyes off the blonde. He chuckled at the sight of his girlfriend fighting with a complete stranger.

Louis shook his head, "She will never ever turn down a fight." He said to himself.

Corinne was focused, but so was Layla. They both had beads of sweat on their forehead and furrowed eyebrows. They both wanted to win. Layla, to prove herself worthy, and Corinne, just because she wanted to.

They went on for nearly an hour before Treville called time. They were both exhausted from holding each other off. Corinne had never met a challenge she couldn't beat, and neither had Layla. They had met each other's match.

"I call this a truce." Said Treville and he turned to Louis, "Your majesty, do you find this woman worthy of working with the musketeers?"

Louis stood up from where he was sitting, "Considering she was fighting with musketeer Corinne D'Artagnan and was not defeated, I do deem Mademoiselle Layla de Chanel of Artois worthy of fighting for France as a musketeer!"

He turned to Corinne, who was completely exhausted. She collapsed into his arms and he held on to her tight. "Thank you." She whispered. And she fell asleep in his arms.

It was three a.m. when Corinne woke up. She was in Louis' bed. His breathing was deep and steady, so she assumed he was asleep. He was in his nightclothes while she was still in her musketeer dress, so she went to the bathroom to change into her nightgown and came back out to get in the bed again.

She just laid in the bed, listening to Louis' breathing. She decided to go get something from the kitchen, so she put on her robe and headed out the door. She turned a couple corners, but backed up when she saw a flash of black.

"Layla?" Corinne asked herself, "What is she doing in the palace at this hour?"

Layla went into a room and closed the door. A minute later she came back out and headed towards Corinne's direction. She forgot about her hunger and ran and hid behind a bush.

When Layla was at a safe distance, Corinne slipped back into Louis' room, and Louis, surprisingly was awake. He stood up and came over to her.

"Hey, you okay?" he said with a yawn.

Corinne nodded, "Yeah, I was just hungry."

He felt her forehead and cheeks, "Are you sure? You're awfully flushed."

She nodded again, "Yes. Now can we go to bed? I'm exhausted." She laughed a slightly fake laugh and sat down on the bed.

He laughed wholeheartedly, "Well, I was the one who had to carry you." He joked, "Don't you think I should get some sympathy?"

She threw a pillow at his face, "No. Now go to sleep." They laughed and laid down to together.

All Corinne could think about is why Layla was snooping around the castle at three in the morning. She didn't have a good feeling about her anymore. But, all stress and fears could be avoided at that moment, and she soon fell asleep in the arms of the king of France.

A/N: Did you figure them out? They are all a bit hard. Thank you for reading and don't forget to review!


	3. Please Disregard This Letter

A/N: Sorry for a long wait. A combination of writers block and extreme laziness can be vile. This chapter may be a little off topic for a while, but it's the only idea I had and it gets the story going. Let me know how you like/dislike it!

Maurice de Chanel was sitting in his study, looking at a painting of his raven-haired daughter. He hadn't seen her in three days and he was being eaten alive with worry.

He sighed, "At least I know she's okay in her room. A place where no one can hurt her." Still, he felt something wasn't quite right, so he called for his guards. "Zac! Heinrich!" He shouted.

A couple minutes later, two men entered the study dressed in uniform. They both had light blonde hair with blue eyes and were very handsome. At least in Isabel's opinion. She tended to flirt with the young guards, causing her father to want fire every one of them.

The two men stood stiff and rigid, "Yes, sir!" They both stated, in their German accents.

"What took you so long?" He questionably raised an eyebrow.

Heinrich smirked, while Zac glanced side to side nervously, "He was playing a game of cards with your dau-"

"Dog!" Zac cut his brother off, from telling Isabel's father that they were together, "I was playing cards with Marietta." He laughed nervously.

Maurice glared at the blonde. His patience was wearing out with him, but he was focusing on another daughter right now. "I want you to go check on Layla. She has not come out for three days and I'm worried."

Heinrich looked at him curiously, "With all due respect, sir, she has done this before, correct?"

"Yes, Heinrich. When she was thirteen. She was mad because I wouldn't let her come with me to Bourdeaux." He rubbed his temple, "Stubborn girl she is."

"Yes, sir." Heinrich said and headed out the door, with Zac on his heels.

When they were gone Maurice looked at another portrait. This time of Isabel. He sighed again, "Why must you grow up so fast?" he shook his head, "You are supposed to be my little girl."

He just sat there for a few minutes. He jumped when the two guards burst through the door, running in. "She's not in her room, sir." Gasped Heinrich, out of breath.

"What do you mean, 'she's not in her room?'" He practically screamed, "Could she of gone to the kitchen?"

"Sir, we have asked the maids and cooks. No one has seen her today." Zac said.

"Bring me Coraline and Isabel." Maurice said watching Zac's eyes light up at the mention of his daughter.

"Yes, sir" Heinrich said and a minute or two later, Isabel walked in along with Coraline. They both wore sly smirks.

Maurice stood up and stared them both down, but the smirks did not waver. "Isabel, Coraline. I have been given the knowledge of knowing that your sister is not here."

"Obviously, papa." Isabel said keeping her eyes firmly on the handsome blonde, "Only Cor, Heinrich, and Zac are here in the room at this moment." She laughed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Her father rolled his eyes, "Isabel! Your sister's life could be at stake!"

It was Isabel's turn to roll her eyes, "Papa, you do know that Layla is an expert swordsman….. er…. Woman, don't you?" She knew he didn't but she just liked to mess with him.

"She, what?" He yelled, eyes nearly popping out of his head, causing Isabel and Coraline to laugh, also earning a couple of snickers from the two men.

Isabel composed herself, "Layla is an expert swordswoman, as am I and Coraline." She said simply. She snuck a glance at Zac, who was practically beaming with pride. She thought he was cute when he was happy. Actually, she thought he was cute anytime.

Maurice was still in shock…. And complete denial. "Who… who taught her?"

Coraline and Isabel looked at each other nervously. "Um…. Well…. I… er… we-"

"I taught her, sir." Zac cut in, "She asked me one day and I accepted." Zac looked at Maurice, then Heinrich, then Coraline, and then Isabel.

Maurice's eyes narrowed as he forgot all about Layla and focused on his middle daughter. "If you seem so confident about Isabel's abilities, then I shall challenge you to a duel with her." He said calmly. He was furious, but he wasn't going to show it.

Zac gulped, "Yes….. Sir."

An hour later, Zac and Isabel were about to start their duel. Zac couldn't have been any more nervous at the moment. He was more terrified of hurting her than losing to a fifteen year-old girl.

"Hey," Isabel told him gently. They were standing nearly toe-to-toe, "Don't be so nervous." She smiled and got into position. He smiled and did the same.

Maurice stood on the sidelines, along with Coraline and Heinrich, watching the two teenagers. He watched in disgust. He did not like the Germanic blonde. He hated that his daughter did.

The two people started. Isabel was so excited about this moment, as was Zac, except he was still worried that he would hurt her. Isabel just loved to stare into his Chrystal blue eyes.

They clashed the swords together, both moving expertly around the large, open space. As Zac nearly lost balance, Isabel laughed and moved in.

"Woah!" He practically gasped, "You're really good." He managed to squeak out, making Isabel laugh harder. She loved it when he was in awe of her talent. Actually, she loved him anytime.

A few minutes later, the blondes were still fighting with each other. They both got pretty tired of dueling, but only Isabel was ready to end it.

She got Zac's sword into the right position, and locked it with hers. He stared at her curiously for a moment, "What are you-"

He was cut off by Isabel. She leaned in and put his hands on his cheeks. She kissed him. It was very quick, but it felt like it lasted a lifetime to the two people.

Zac was so in shock, he forgot about the duel. Isabel pointed the sword at his chest. "I believe you are finished." She said with a smile. She saw the pink lipstick that lingered on his lips. She also forgot about her father. She looked over, only imagining the fury he would have.

Coraline had a huge smile spread across her face, while Heinrich's eyes were nearly popping out of his head. Maurice was almost like Heinrich, except Heinrich was filled with confusion, while the old man was filled with fury.

Isabel walked over, dragging a flabbergasted Zac behind her. "Papa?" She said softly. She swore there was smoke coming out of his ears. That was not good.

"Isabel…." He said calmly, but she could sense that he was getting angrier by the second.

She realized almost immediately that this was bad. "Run, Zac." She whispered. "Run to my room, now." She demanded and he took off sprinting with her right behind him.

When they got there, she quickly, closed and locked the door. "Zac?" She asked the seventeen year old. "Zac, are you okay?"

He looked at her from where he was standing. He walked over and kissed her again. It was short, but sweet and made them both so amazingly happy.

"What about your father?" He asked after a moment.

Isabel looked confused, "What about him?"

Zac groaned, "Isabel, you know your father hates me!" he started pacing, "We have to leave this room sometime, and when we do, he's going to kill me!" he stopped and looked at her face with a sad expression. "Isabel, I'm a goner."

The blonde gasped, "No you're not! I won't allow him to kill you, or….. or I'll threaten to commit suicide like Juliet did, or something. Zac, everything will be fine."

A loud, hard series of knocks came at the door of Isabel's room. "Isabel, I am giving you one chance. I want Zac, now!" Maurice shouted through the door.

"No!" She yelled back, "You'll hurt him!" She was not going to let her father harm the person she cared for.

Zac sighed once more, "Isabel, it's fine." He opened the door revealing Vladimir and Avraam, two of the Russians, along with Maurice. They marched in and Vladimir grabbed Zac by the wrists.

"Take him to the dungeon and send a message to the King saying I want a replacement." Maurice demanded and Vladimir and Avraam obeyed. "I never want to see the likes of him again."

"Wait!" Isabel shouted as Zac was nearly out the door. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. It only lasted for a moment, because her father pulled her off, but it was enough for both of them. "Stay safe!" I love you, she added in her head.

The messenger went off to Paris to deliver the message along with Zac. He rode at lightning speed. The message and the man was there by the night.

In Paris, Louis was in his bedroom, while Corinne was supposed to be at training.

There was a soft knock at the door. Louis knew exactly who it was. Louis stood up, waiting for the door to fly open.

"Are you decent?" Called Corinne through the door.

Laughed uncontrollably, "Yes, Corinne." He barely managed to squeak out die to his fit of laughter.

Corinne opened his door, "Hey," She kicked the door closed, "I'm not taking any chances. Do you remember that time in the bathroom?" She stated exasperated.

Louis shook his head, "I wasn't naked, Corinne." He crossed his arms. "You walked in on me while I was dressing."

Corinne huffed, "But still! You barely had your pants on. You didn't even have on a shirt!" She smiled, "My dad would've killed me if he was still around." She twirled a piece of her loose hair, "You know," she stepped closer to him, "You kind of looked….." she gasped, "Nice." She said suddenly, earning a laugh from Louis.

"Okay, Corinne. Can I help you somehow?" He said with a laugh.

Corinne faked a gasp, "Must I have a problem when I come to see you?"

Louis rolled his eyes, "No, but I can see you're hiding something behind your back."

She smiled, "Oh yeah, mail delivery!" She started sifting through the mail, "A war declaration from The King of England-for the twelfth time-" She rolled her eyes, still sifting, " A couple of betrothal offers." she tossed those into the trash, "No need of those here, as long as I'm around," She rolled her eyes again as Louis laughed, "A few threats. And…. A letter from Artois."

Louis groaned, "Hand me that." He started to grumble under his breath as he read the letter. "Seriously! Monsieur Maurice of Artois has requested another guard trade out…. Again!" He balled up the letter and tossed it into the garbage. "He has sent him back from his estate with a messenger. He said something about 'conspiracy.'" The brunette scoffed, "First it was murder. Then treason. And now conspiracy?" he rolled his eyes and sat sown on the bed. Corinne followed suit.

Corinne also rolled her eyes, "He sounds a bit like a lunatic."

"You mean like you?" He said, earning a smack with a pillow.

Corinne scoffed, "Says the man that wanted to fly." She said as she started to lean in.

"And succeeded." He added right before their lips met.

They both sat on the bed together, just kissing. It was a perfect moment, but all Corinne could think about was Layla's mysterious actions. She decided to stop fretting and enjoy the 'little' kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, while his hands were at her lower back and the back of her head.

Corinne broke the kiss, "Don't you have a soldier to meet with right now?" she said annoying Louis.

He rolled his eyes, "I think that can wait a few more minutes." He laughed and once again, they were both enveloped in a deep kiss.

Louis pulled her over so that she was in his lap. They were only kissing and not paying attention to anything around the room. They especially didn't notice that a dark figure was peeking in through doorway, watching them.

A/N: See. Told you a little off topic. I thought maybe you guys could get to know Isabel a bit more. I really love her character, as well as Coraline's soooo yeah. Please let me know how it is!

Thanks,

WeatherBug02

P.S: Please don't hate me, but I, for some reason, dig Corinne/Louis 'make out' scenes. I probably won't have too many though. :)


	4. The Mumbling Idiot

A/N: HELLO! I AM BACK (And not dead). Sorry for the long wait, but school started back and this past week had been hectic. Anyway, enjoy.

The next morning, Corinne and Louis were walking down the palace halls together to meet the guard of which was sent back from Artois at the demand of Monsieur de Chanel.

"Why do you think he was really sent back?" Corinne asked Louis with a puzzled look on her face. She actually was very curious.

Louis scoffed, "Who knows!" The brunette rolled his eyes, "The last one sent back said he only asked for a day off to visit his sick mother."

Corinne gasped, "You mean he won't let a young guard visit his own mother!" Her eyes flashed with anger, "Who does that? I mean, why did he do that?" the blonde just started rambling about it while Louis tuned her out. She did this once in a while.

When they arrived, they found Monsieur Treville and the young man, who was cuffed, waiting. He looked exhausted and his wrists were starting to bruise from the tight cuffs. It was a sad sight to see.

Louis seemed somewhat angry. "Treville, why is he like this? Why hasn't he been taken out of his cuffs?"

"The messenger wouldn't give us the key until this morning, Sire. We wanted to wait for you." Treville seemed somewhat nervous.

Louis rolled his eyes, "Give me the key and you may go." He demanded and Treville obeyed, for what say does he have towards the King? Louis took the cuffs off the other man and cringed at the sight of his wrist. He had purple bruises on his wrists and what appeared to be whipping scars. The guard fell to his knees and rubbed his wrists. "State your name." Louis said with high-authority.

He looked up at the young king, "Zac Eberhardt, Your Majesty." He said weakly and bowed from his sitting position.

Corinne, who was until that moment, was distracted and had no recollection of what happened before that second, gasped. "Zac." She growled and was about to sock him, but then she really saw him. He was barely able to stay awake, and he had been whipped and tortured. She couldn't hurt an innocent soul. If he really was innocent, at least.

Zac gasped and stood up, "Corinne," he looked around nervously, "What….are you doing here?"

Corinne laughed, "You thought I'd already get fired didn't you?" She shook her head, "Men."

Louis' eyebrow furrowed in confusion, "Am I missing something here?"

"Yes, Louis." Corinne said simply, "This is Zac and he is an idiot."

Louis groaned, "Corinne, I'm going to need more of an explanation than that." He crossed his arms and stared the blonde down.

"Fine," She sighed, "Do you remember when I left with the Musketeers to escort German immigrants through enemy territory?" Corinne asked him.

"Yes."

"Well, he was one of those immigrants. A particularly annoying one I might add." She glared at the blonde, "And the only one who just happened to be bilingual."

Louis still was confused, "So you escorted an annoying German citizen through Belgium." He sighed, "I still don't know why you seem murderous right now." And he meant it. She looked as if one glance could melt steel.

Corinne glanced at Zac, who was just standing up watching the two people debate. "Louis, dear." She said in mock sweetness, "Do you remember what you told me the first time we met?"

He still looked confused, "Thank you?"

"No, after that." She said impatiently.

"I don't know, my dream?"

Corinne face-palmed, "Oy! _Pourquoi les hommes doivent être des imbéciles_?" She sighed and rolled her eyes.

Louis groaned, "_Pourquoi devrais-je savoir comment lire votre esprit_? _Je ne suis pas psychique_!" He said annoyed.

"_Vous devriez être si vous êtes dans l'amour avec moi, Louis_!" She sighed again, but then smiled seeing the smirk on his face. "My dream, Louis. What did you say about my dream that made me literally want to smack you then and there?"

Louis' eyes widened in realization and he turned to the silent and confused Zac. He patted him on the back, "Zac, for future reference, never, and I mean never, tell a girl she can't fight, or prepare for a major beat down." He smirked at Corinne, "I learned that the hard way, and trust me on this, it's not pretty." He said getting smacked by Corinne in the arm.

Zac looked at Corinne and then Louis and smiled nervously, "Yes, Your Highness."

"Oh Zac, what happened to that provoking personality that I hated?" Corinne asked him, "Did that get washed away as well as your dignity?" She glared at Zac.

Louis smacked her with his handkerchief, "Corinne!" He hissed.

Corinne gasped, "Did you just hit me with your snot rag?" She stared him down with a fiery glare.

Louis just stared back down at her with no expression, "Yes I did and don't be rude to a guest, Corinne." He said a matter-of-factly.

"He's not a 'guest', Louis." The blonde said, "He is here for conspiracy."

Zac looked as if he had a heart attack because of what she just said. "Zac," Louis said quietly, "Don't listen to her. I'm the king, so only I can banish you or not." He shot a glare to Corinne, who made a sheepish smile.

Zac nodded, "Thank you, Your Highness." He looked down at the floor, "And by the way, I did not commit conspiracy as Monsieur de Chanel has told you."

Louis didn't look surprised, "Then why were you sent here, Zac?"

Zac took a breath and muttered something intelligible. He did not want to say what it was, but he knew he had to, for the King could save him from destruction.

"I'm sorry?" Louis said confused. He didn't hear him, but Corinne did. The blonde giggled quietly. Although she completely despised when Viveca and Aramina would tease her about her 'little' relationship with Louis, she still is a girl. And being a girl, she couldn't help acting like one, once in a while.

Zac muttered it a little louder. "Zac," Louis said, "I don't understand what you are mumbl-"

Corinne couldn't help it anymore, "_Ihr ein Idiot, Louis_." She said in German so he couldn't understand her. "He said, 'I fell in love with his daughter'." She smiled when she saw Zac blush.

Louis glanced at the smiling Corinne and laughed. He knew exactly where he was coming from. When his advisers found out what kind of a relationship he and Corinne had, he got a stern talking-to, but he obviously didn't get whipped.

"Oh," Louis said, "I know what you mean." He laughed at Zac's bewildered expression. "I'm not supposed to be with this one," He pointed at Corinne, "but, yet I am. Don't know why though." He once again got smacked upside the head. Zac and him laughed, "Yeah. She's as stubborn as a bull and as mean as a snake, but…..I have to give it to her," He gave a devilish smirk, "She's a really good kisser."

Corinne gasped, "Hey! Do not share that information!" She felt heat creeping up her cheeks. Zac and Louis laughed as if they were best friends. The blonde groaned, "You know what? I'm done with this. I'm leaving!" She stated and ran out of the room.

As soon as she got to the door, she heard lots of giggling. She turned a corner to see four girls. Viveca, Aramina, Renee, and Layla were all giggling uncontrollably.

Corinne was already blushing, but knowing they heard that embarrassing conversation made her turn a new shade of red, if that was possible. "You heard it, didn't you?"

Viveca stopped her giggling, "No! Of course not!"

Corinne sighed in relief, "Good."

"No problem, Corinne." Viveca smirked, "Or, should I say, Corinne, the 'really good kisser'?" Everyone started to bend over laughing while Corinne just blushed and rolled her eyes.

Layla stopped laughing and peaked in through the door. "Who is that?" She asked.

Corinne sighed at the raven-haired girl, "An annoying idiot. Zac Eberhardt to be exact."

Layla gasped, "Why is he here?" She felt panic stricken.

Corinne was confused at the girl, along with the others. "For 'conspiracy' according to Monsieur de Chanel of Artois." Layla gasped, but Corinne went on, "Or, making out with out with his daughter, according to the idiot."

Layla smiled and gasped again, "What?" She exclaimed, "He made out with my sister?" She shrieked in delight.

They all then were more confused than ever, "She's your sister? You know this Zac?" Renee asked.

Layla smiled, "Oh yeah. Isabel is always flirting with him. It's sort of adorable, but I never knew it would go this far." She giggled again.

The five girls shared a laugh.

Aramina stopped for a moment, "So Corinne," She said innocently, "How good is Louis?" She went on when Corinne seemed confused, "You know, on the kissing scale." She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Corinne turned pink, "That's for me to know, and you to never find out." She then high-tailed it out of the hall.

They all giggled again. "Bet you one crown Zac and the King are right outside this door." Layla said to the other three.

Renee smiled, "You're on!" They all tiptoed over to the doorway, and sure enough, the two young men were standing over each other like twelve year old boys.

Louis chuckled nervously, "Hi, bye!" The brunette then ran through the halls with Zac closely behind.

Layla couldn't help, but be jealous of Corinne. She was so pretty and she had a person she loved. She wished she had that. But she couldn't. Not yet.

A/N: Heh, heh? Good, bad? Review. How 'bout it? LOL Sorry this is lame, but I thought I might as well give you something.

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02


	5. Toni

A/N: Ergh…. Don't kill me, but I was getting bored, okay?

It was midnight. Storm clouds were rolling in while a breeze was blowing through Paris rustling the trees while leaving a ghostly impression on all who was out on the streets. No one was out on the streets…..except one.

A dark cloaked figure walked through the dim streets of Paris, only lit up by a few faint lights in windows. The person stayed in the shadows and made way to the saloon.

The figure walked in, ignoring all of the eyes watching. 'It' sat down on a stool.

The tender stared, "What can I get you?" He said curiously.

"Help."

The tender laughed, "You're 'gonna need to be more specific than that, sir." He laughed again, "Can I get your name?"

"John." He said, "I need help with," He leaned in and glanced around. He whispered it in his ear "I heard someone here knows everything about everything."

The tender laughed once again, "Lad, I don't think she's single. Trust me, I wish she was." He waggled his eyebrows.

John shook his head and rolled his eyes, "No, I need real help!" He shouted causing everyone's attention to get dragged to him. He smiled weakly and turned back to the man, "Please?"

"Fine," He sighed, "Him," He pointed to a cloaked man in the corner of the saloon, "He can help you." And at that he walked away.

John stood and went over to the man. When he got there he spoke nervously, "I need a bit of a hand."

"I know." He said, "I know everything."

The person had his feet crossed on the table while his hands played with odd cards. You couldn't see his face at all, so John had no idea what he looked like.

John stared at him in awe while the other person stood up, still not letting the hood reveal his face. "Follow me." He demanded. He walked to a closet and opened the door, pushing John inside, also walking in himself. He shut the door and it was then pitch black. The person pushed past John and started knocking on the back wall of the closet.

"What are you doing?" John said starting to panic. The man just grunted and continued knocking.

They were in there five minutes until he stopped knocking on the walls. A secret passageway slammed down on the floor and the cloaked person immediately walked in, John followed.

A minute later, they were down a hall when the unknown person stopped.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Um...I-I-I am John." He stammered.

The person laughed, "Not very confident are you?"

John chuckled nervously, "Not when I'm in an unknown passageway with a creepy stranger." He answered matter-of-factly. "Anyway, who are you?" He said curiously.

The person didn't answer. He reached to his cloak and let it fall of his head and shoulders, down to the floor.

"Wait, what?" John exclaimed. "You're….You're-"

The person rolled 'his' eyes, "A girl. Yes I am a girl." And a girl she was. "The name's Antoinette," She blew her hair out of her face, "My friends call me Toni. At least they would if I had any real friends." Toni rolled her eyes.

John scratched his head, "Well, this is not awkward. Not awkward at all."

Toni has pale skin, light green eyes, and dark purple hair with side bangs and blue and pink highlights. She wears a lizard skin top and a purple leather coat with magenta on the top right sleeve and on the bottom of the left. Toni has purple pants with ripped holes from her lower thigh down. She wears black, heeled, lace-up boots, a fingerless glove on her right hand and a glove with only a thumb hole on her left.

"A smart aleck, huh?" she rolled her eyes, "I've had enough of those."

John seemed scared, but he wasn't about to show it. "Well, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"And it seems someone needs some help only I can give them, so….yeah."

John sighed, "I need help with…." He whispered it in her ear.

Toni laughed, "Ha! Don't think that you're going to get a date, sweetheart." She laughed again.

John groaned, "I don't need a date! Why does everyone think I need a date?"

"Because you're annoying and nobody wants to be around you." She answered back.

"Well," John said trying to come up with a good comeback, "Why are you single? I'll bet you have never been…not single!"

Toni glared at him, "I'm single because I was born that way." She stated simply. "Okay, do you want my help or not? I have a life, you know." She started counting off her fingers, "I have to meet some weirdo prisoner to 'wreak havoc on Paris and that Blondie', apparently. I have to go visit some puppet who wants to become a real boy. And, I have to go see my friends on the other side." She shuffled her cards, "I have a pretty booked day, thank you very much." She started to walk away.

"Wait! Don't go!" John called back to her, "My boss will have my head on a stick if I can't do this!"

Toni turned around and flipped her purple hair. She sighed, "Fine, but don't think this will be for free."

John smiled and took a pouch out of his pocket, "I know that. Here," He tossed it to her feet.

Toni laughed, "Oh, John, you silly thing!" She picked up the pouch and dumped its contents in her hand. She took a gold coin and bit it, "I am one of the only people in all of France who can do what you want." She smiled, "I'm 'gonna need a bit more than that."

John sighed, "Sorry, but it's all I have."

"All you have?" She smirked, "I think not." Toni tapped her chin, "Well, there's no telling if you'll ever get hitched, so I'm not taking your first born. Hades is already over-ridden with souls….." She sighed, "John, you're so useless I can't find a deal to put you in."

"How do you know I'm useless? You just met me!"

Toni shook her head and laughed, "John, John, John…." She rolled her eyes, "When will you learn? I know everything about everything, okay? The only thing you are good for is cleaning out the horse stalls." She laughed again.

John sighed, "You're right."

Toni then composed herself, "I know, I always am." She rolled her eyes, "Dude, are we going to get this job done so you don't get your useless head on a stick, or are we just going to frame you for murder?" She filed her nail on her coat, "I know professional Hitmen, who really deserve a break if it's the latter."

"Yes, let's get the job done." He said quickly.

Toni smiled wickedly, "Perfect,"

"_Louis, vous ne m'écoutez jamais! Je ne veux pas_!" Corinne yelled at six in the morning.

Louis rolled his eyes, "_Qu'est-ce que tu racontes, Corinne_? _Tout ce que je fais, c'est de vous écouter_!" he countered.

The two were 'quietly' discussing Corinne's birthday while walking in the halls, waking up everyone who was asleep if they weren't already awake.

Corinne rolled her eyes, "Louis, come on! I don't want a birthday celebration. I let you celebrate last year."

Louis looked at her in disbelief, "No you didn't!" He exclaimed loudly, "You avoided me throughout the whole entire day!"

"Well, I let you celebrate the year before that." She said matter-of-factly

Louis shook his head, "Uh, no you didn't." He sighed, "You ran off and visited your mother in Gascony two days before, and then you got in some hot water with Treville." He crossed his arms and stared her down, "That of which I had to rescue you from, I might add."

"Why do you have to have the freaking memory of a horse?" She sighed.

Layla then turned a corner and walked up to the two. She curtsied to Louis and nodded to Corinne before speaking, "No offense Corinne, but you're really loud." She said with a laugh.

Louis rolled his eyes, "Tell me about it."

"Seriously," Layla started, "We could hear you from the apartment. We thought there was an attack with how loud you were yelling."

Zac turned a corner and ran up to them, "Where is the danger?" He said quickly, "I will face it for you, Your Majesty!" He started hopping in place and left to find the 'danger' over-excitedly.

Corinne laughed, "Well he's a character."

Layla glanced at Corinne, "Yeah," She said uncomfortably.

Corinne could sense the awkward feeling in the situation, so she excused herself to leave.

"Okay, but don't wake up the rest of Paris while you're at it!" He called to Corinne, who was walking away.

The blonde turned so she was walking backwards, "Oh, you know I will." She laughed and ran to wherever she wanted.

Corinne was walking on the slightly dim streets of Paris. The sun was barely peaking in over the horizon, making pink and orange streaks in the sky. She loved walking through the city in the morning when people were just waking up to start a new day.

She breathed in the fresh air as she was walking, "You know," She said to herself, "I think this will be a-"

She was cut off when a hand was put over her mouth, while another pulled her into an alley and pushed the front of her body into the wall of a store.

"Where do you think you're going, Blondie?"

A/N: I am so evil, I know. By the way, so….about Toni. I based her off a character from the upcoming Disney movie _Descendants._I am really bad at describing, so if you want to see her outfit in actuality, go here: wiki/Mal She looks so cool, I couldn't help myself. Sorry…. Anyway, Review! Bye!

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02


	6. Notre Dame

**A/N: Again I say, don't kill me!**

Corinne struggled against the hands of her attacker. She had been training her entire life to be a musketeer, but this person had double her experience. She couldn't move.

"You just couldn't stay away could you?" The voice said.

Corinne was panicked. She tried with all her might until she found a weak spot she could get out of the hold with. She elbowed the attacker in the stomach and got out and readied herself for a fight. She reached for her sword, but it wasn't there.

"What?" She gasped in shock at her sword not being in its place in her dress.

The other person, who was covered in a cloak, stood up after recovering from the blow they had just received. "Looking for this?" The figure took Corinne's sword out from under the cloak and held it out. Corinne tried to grab it, but couldn't get it quick enough.

"I guess you're going down the old fashioned way." Corinne said and got in a fighting stance.

The other person just laughed, "You think you're going to beat me? I doubt that."

Corinne furrowed her eyebrow and swung a side kick to the head, but her opponent just ducked and stood back up. She tried it again, but the same thing happened. Corinne threw a punch, but it was blocked by her attacker's hand.

"Is that all you got?" The blonde said gasping for breath.

"You want more? Fine, I'll give you more."

Her attacker advanced, forcing the blonde to be pushed farther into the alley. Corinne threw another punch, but the other person caught it mid-air and pinned both her arms behind the blonde's back….tight.

The opponent released her arms a moment later, but then picked her up by her waist and dragged her to the back of the alley. They dropped her onto her to her feet and shoved her into a wall. When Corinne is pinned, Corinne is not happy.

The blonde shoved the cloaked figure as hard as she could and sent her back a few feet. She readied herself again and when the other person got up, Corinne pushed the person down again and grabbed on to her.

Corinne smacked the attacker and tried to run away, but they wouldn't let go of her. The opponent quickly rolled on top of Corinne and forced her to her feet. The person grabbed a spot on Corinne's shoulder and, to the blonde's surprise, found her weak spot.

Corinne squeezed her eyes closed in pain, "Stop, please." She said weakly.

The cloaked figure laughed, "What happened to you, Corinne? I thought you could handle anything."

The person forced her down to her knees and let her shoulder go. Corinne quickly stood up and tried to run, but the attacker wouldn't let her leave. The person grabbed the musketeer's shoulders, forced her back into a wall, and kneed her twice in the stomach. If that wasn't enough, her attacker slammed Corinne's head onto the ground. That was it for Corinne. She was done.

The attacker released her, knowing that the blonde was finished and Corinne sank to her knees slowly. "And I thought you were a fighter? Stupid me." The opponent said.

Corinne felt as if the world was spinning nonstop. Her head made it so she could not think straight nor stand up. The last thing she remembered before she fell unconscious was the, now risen, sun glistening rays filling Paris with light. 

"Your Highness, have you seen Corinne?" Treville asked out of the blue.

Louis looked up from the papers he was reading in his office. He looked confused, "No, isn't she supposed to be training with you?"

Treville nodded and said, "I haven't seen her at all today, Your Majesty."

It was then Louis got concerned. He stood up and walked over to the man, "But, she never misses training. Not ever, Treville. Do you think she's okay?" He said concerned for her well-being.

"Your Highness, I'm sure that she just forgot. I have men that forget about training on a daily basis." Treville said calmly.

Louis sighed, "For a smart man, Treville, you really are an idiot." When Louis saw the hurt on the older man's face he immediately felt sorry for what he had said, "I'm sorry Treville, I'm just panic stricken."

Treville nodded solemnly, "Why don't I request her friends? They will know where she is." Louis approved and the man left.

As soon as the four girls were tracked down, they were brought into the King's office.

"Is something wrong, Your Highness?" Asked Renee curiously.

Louis shook his head slightly, "Can any of you tell me where Corinne is? She didn't show up for training and, well, you know her." He tried to say calmly, but he couldn't help the cracking in his voice.

The four girls got stone-faced, "Actually," Aramina started, "We were hoping you could tell us that, Your Highness."

Louis furrowed his eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

The girls looked at each other, "We don't know where Corinne is. We haven't seen her at all today." Aramina cringed when she saw Louis ball up his fist.

"Have any of you had any strange reports?" Treville asked.

"No," The four girls echoed.

Treville sighed, "Well, then I'll have to-"

"Actually," Layla piped up, "I had someone ask me to look for a cloaked person because he thought he saw him beating someone up early this morning."

"What?" Louis exclaimed, "Corinne left this morning to go and walk like she always does." He felt frantic, "But, no one could beat her, could they?"

"Your Highness," Said Layla, "The man said the person being beat up was blonde."

The young King felt is breathing hitch. Louis then ran out of the office, to his room. He slammed the door when he got there and started pacing maniacally. A few minutes later, he stopped and let his back slide slowly down the door.

He knew that Corinne could handle herself, but she had gotten in some sticky situations that she needed help with. The mere idea of her being in pain made him want to die. He loved her and the thought of her being alone and hurt in the grasp of an enemy was more than he could bear. 

Louis couldn't take the confinement at the palace anymore, so he walked out the servant's entrance to go to town and find his peace of mind. He went through the gate and walked through the streets of Paris. It took twenty minutes to get to his destination.

He stood on the steps of the Notre Dame de Paris. He had only been there one other time when he was young, but it was still indescribably beautiful. He entered the Cathedral and stood in the entrance. He watched as some of the people prayed at the prayer bar and he watched the Archdeacon light some of the hundreds of candles lining the room.

A moment later, the Archdeacon looked up and noticed Louis. He walked up to him.

"Welcome, friend," he said quietly, "Have you not visited Notre Dame ever?" he asked.

"I have once, when I was very young." Louis replied. "I have come because I am troubled, you see?"

"Ah, well, please, pray to his gloriousness and your troubles will be heard, young fellow."

Louis nodded and walked over to the prayer bar. He kneeled and prayed. He prayed for Paris. He prayed for Corinne, so that nobody would harm her. He prayed for her friends because he couldn't imagine the amount of hurt they were feeling. He prayed for everything he could think of.

Louis did not realize how long he was there at Notre Dame, so he was quite surprised to see that the stained glass windows were no longer shining with light, but instead with darkness.

Louis heard footsteps behind him, but he did not look up until he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Do you need to talk, son?" The Archdeacon asked him.

Louis hesitated, but then nodded. The Archdeacon led him over to a table with two chairs. They were the only ones in the Cathedral.

Louis sat down and sighed. "I am so worried."

"Worried about what, son?" He asked patiently.

Louis sighed again and told him everything. Everything meaning: How Corinne and him met, their relationship, Corinne's friends, her being kid-napped. He spilled everything. Well, not everything. Louis 'forgot' to include a tiny little detail. He didn't mention he was the King of France. One of the most powerful rulers in the entire world. He did it intentionally, though. He didn't want any madness that always happened when he went out.

The Archdeacon nodded in understanding, "Well, I don't know what to say, except, God has a plan for everything." He said, "If her getting out is his will, so be it. If not, we can't change that." Louis looked down, so he patted the young King's shoulder, "It is okay, son. If she has all the determination that you say, I'm sure she'll be alright."

Louis nodded, "I hope so." He took out the pocket watch from his coat and looked at it. "Holy-" Louis exclaimed but cut himself off because of the look he got from the Archdeacon. "Holy Lord almighty is great!" He said and the Archdeacon laughed. "Sorry, it's just….it's midnight….and I have to be somewhere."

The Archdeacon nodded in understanding, "Yes, go." He answered and Louis walked toward the door and opened it, but right before it closed the Archdeacon added, "And, God bless you, Your Highness!"

Louis' eyebrow furrowed in confusion, but then laughed, "And you, Archdeacon." And at that, he left the Cathedral.

Louis walked home to the palace. He felt a lot better after visiting Notre Dame, but he still was being eaten alive with guilt. The love of his life is missing and there was nothing he could do about it.

"I'll see you again, Corinne." He said, "I promise."

He continued walking back to the palace. He didn't care that he missed dinner. He even didn't care about the lash he got from Treville for being out for five hours. All he cared about was his beloved and her being alright. 

**A/N: Huh, huh. I'm bad at fight scenes. Anyway, I watched the Hunchback of Notre Dame for the first time in ages and I thought it would be a nice addition to the story! Enjoy and review!**

**Sincerely,**

**Weatherbug02**


	7. Secrets and Hidden Identities

It was midnight. She knew it. She opened her eyes, but immediately closed them again. Her head was pounding and her body was screaming with pain.

"Glad to know you're finally awake, Rinny." Said a voice.

Corinne groaned and forced herself to sit up. "What the He-" The blonde held her head, "Oy!" Corinne focused her vision on the voice and realized who it was. She gasped and literally pounced on the other voice's owner, "What in the freaking world is wrong with your freaking mind, Toni!" She yelled.

Toni rolled her eyes and pushed the weak girl off her, "What? I just wanted to show you how I've improved, Rinny." She said innocently and stood up.

Corinne stood up as well and rolled her eyes, "Right, so you decided to come and beat me half to death without me even knowing it was you." Corinne made the thumbs up sign and nodded, "Great plan."

Toni sighed, "Well, what else was I supposed to do, Rinny?" She said sarcastically, "Just come up to you and say, 'Hey Corinne, it's me, Toni the fugitive. Can I beat you half to death and take you to my secret chambers?'?"

"That would've worked." She said and the two started laughing hysterically, "Ow." Corinne winced.

John then walked in and stared at the two girls. He was chained from the wrists. "Um, am I interrupting something?" He asked curiously.

Corinne looked over to Toni, "What?" She sighed, "He's still in one piece?"

Toni laughed, "Did you want me to maim him, or something?" She smiled wickedly, "If so, that can still be arranged."

"No, it's too late although that was the reason I sent him to you in the first place."

John was scared so he decided to change the subject, "Am I missing something? How do you two know each other?"

The two glanced at one another, "Um….." Toni said, "It's none of your business." She rolled her eyes.

"Er, okay."

"Okay, Rinny, I have some information for you." Toni said.

Corinne smiled, "Great! I'm sure I'm just being paranoid, but…..you know."

"Actually, you're not." Toni stated making Corinne interested. The purple-haired girl grabbed some papers and laid them out on a table. "You see, this person you wanted me to check on, her name is Layla?" Corinne nodded, "Well she seems to come from a long line of cheats." She pointed to a name on one of the papers, "Sir Reginald de Chanel was a knight during the dark ages," Toni took another document out from her coat, "The thing is, he tricked the king of that time to make him a knight." She pointed to another name on the list, "And, her great uncle was arrested for theft. She has a con-man for a great-grandfather, a gypsy aunt, and countless other weird relatives."

John shook his head, "But, Layla, she seems so sweet." He argued, "Are you saying she's a con person?"

Toni glared at him, "No one asked for your input, John."

"Oh, that's right!" He said sarcastically, "I'm the useless horse stall cleaner that's just here for show. Sorry, I forgot."

"Exactly!"

John groaned while Toni laughed so hard she snorted, "Come one guys, pay attention!" Corinne said slightly annoyed, but amused at the same time.

"Okay, fine. Corinne, I just want you to go home and keep an extra eye on her, alright?" Toni said and the blonde nodded.

Corinne cringed, "Sure thing, but….."

"What?" Toni and John said in unison.

"Well," Corinne started, "One, I disappeared for two days without a trace. And two, how am I supposed to explain this?" She referenced to her black eye and scrapes and bruises around her body.

"Right, uh…" Toni thought aloud, "Wing it, I guess."

Corinne shrugged, "Okay," She started to leave, but stopped in her tracks, turned around and hugged Toni. "Thanks for your help, Toni."

Toni smiled, "No problem, Rinny." And they both released each other and Corinne left, "Hey, don't be a stranger, you hear?" She called out.

"Like I would want to be seen with a wanted criminal!" Corinne laughed and ran the rest of the way out.

John stared at Toni, "I thought you said you don't have any real friends?" He asked her questionably.

"Nah, I don't have any friends."

John lifted an eyebrow, "What about Corinne?" He asked, "You two seem pretty friendly, to me at least."

Toni smiled, "Corinne's not my friend." She started, "She's family."

John nodded and decided not to press on any longer. He didn't want to ruin the moment.

"Excuse me, but why are you still here?" Toni asked.

John rolled his eyes, "Way to ruin the moment."

"It was my moment to ruin, so….yeah." She smiled and pushed him out the door.

Corinne was cloaked, walking through Paris. It was around midday, so her time conception was way off. She was going to the palace. She needed to see him. She could only imagine how worried he was. When she left for Gascony two years before she at least left a note, but she just vanished this time.

She was lost in her thoughts so she pretty lost any awareness in her surroundings, so she didn't see a musketeer come down the road.

Before she knew it, Corinne was grabbed by the neck. "I hear you killed the king's girl." He said in her ear.

"What?" She asked, but he didn't listen. He cuffed her and brought her down to the castle. He shoved her into the throne room and told her to wait for the king.

"Why am I here?" She asked.

"His majesty said only he could unmask the person." He answered harshly, but it made Corinne's heart flutter. She thought she had gotten over that stage by now. She hadn't. Not yet.

"Listen to me!" The musketeers yelled and struck her across the face. He still hadn't seen who she was, but there will no doubt be serious consequences ahead for him. Corinne elbowed him in the stomach, but he shoved her to the ground immediately.

It was then that Louis and Treville entered. All Louis saw was a girl on the ground and a musketeer right next to her.

As Louis sat down on the throne, Treville said, "Stand up and bow to the king."

Corinne stood up, but didn't bow. "No."

"What?" Treville asked surprised.

"I said 'no'." She said again. This time everyone was surprised.

The musketeer next to her struck her again. "Bow!" He yelled.

Corinne kept her composure, "No."

She was stuck again. She kept the composure, but she felt as if she couldn't take another hit. Louis didn't think he could watch one more.

Treville sighed, "I'll give you one last chance. Bow to the King of France."

Corinne took a step closer, "No."

The musketeers was about to strike her again, but when he was about to make contact with her skin, she grabbed his wrist and pinned both of his arms behind his back. Just like Toni did. The blonde got the key to the cuffs while she was being arrested.

Corinne smirked at Louis and Treville's flabbergasted faces.

"Jackson!" Treville called to him. Treville then pointed at Corinne and ran over to her. "Release him." He demanded.

"No," She said and spun Jackson around so he was facing her. She elbowed him on the shoulder and pushed him back. Jackson fell to the ground. The man ran and literally hid behind Monsieur Treville.

Treville tried to grab her, but the blonde back flipped, and managed to pit-pocket his sword from him. Treville didn't realize that, though, so he reached for his sword, but it wasn't there.

Corinne held out the sword, "Looking for this?" She smirked as he tried to grab it, but she held it back. She unsheathed it and pointed it at the man. Treville immediately backed off, even when she started moving towards the king.

"Don't be hasty," he said nervously when Corinne had pointed the sword at Louis' chest. It was all in fun, of course, but they didn't know that.

Corinne laughed, "You think I'm going to hurt him," she looked Louis in the eye, "Even after I had saved him more times than I have taken a bath in my entire life?" She smiled, "How wasteful would that be?"

Corinne threw the sword over her shoulder and started walking away, only to be grabbed by the wrist by Louis. "Corinne?" He asked.

Corinne smiled and pulled back the hood, letting her face be shown. "How's it going, Lovestruck?"

Louis stared at her confused for a moment, but then pulled her into his arms. "Holy-" he cut himself off, "Lord almighty is great, Corinne."

Corinne laughed, "I was gone for a day and a half, Louis."

Louis released her and started examining her face, "Corinne, what happened?" he asked her concerned, "How did you get like this?"

"Well, first, I got in a bit of a fight," She said casually, "And, well frankly, Jackson wasn't helping the outcome of my face." The blonde shrugged.

Louis' eyes flashed with anger. Jackson saw that so he immediately ran out from the room. "I'm sorry, Corinne. If only I had stopped him."

Corinne laughed again and swatted his hand away from her face. "Oh, stop with the mushy gushy stuff, Louis. I'm fine, really."

"Wait," He started, "Who did you get into a fight with?"

Corinne glanced around, "Uh…..No one." She said quickly, but that only caused more suspicion.

Louis lifted an eyebrow, "Corinne," He said warningly, "What are you not telling me?"

Corinne nervously smiled and tried to get out of the hold he had on her wrist but it was no use. Louis expression probably would've made her spill all her secrets…..if her three best friends and Layla hadn't walked into the room right at that second.

"Your Majesty, I-"

Renee was cut off by Aramina's ear-piercing scream. "Corinne!" The three girls ran to the blonde, while Layla slowly walked like a lady should.

"Where have you been?" Viveca asked her.

Louis sighed, "I've been trying to make her spill, but that's not going to happen."

Aramina looked at him straight in the eye with no expression, "No offense, Your Highness, but we have pointy swords. You don't." The red-head laughed and so did the other four girls.

Viveca stopped laughing. "Corinne what are you wearing?" She practically yelled, "Cloaks are so last year! What were you thinking?" The four girls didn't stop laughing. "Hey, this is a real crisis nowadays. Only criminals wear cloaks."

Corinne stopped laughing and rolled her eyes, "That's not true, Viveca." She said thinking of Toni. Well, she sort of is a criminal.

"Anyway," Viveca started, "I must get you some clean clothes, Corinne." And at that, the brunette dragged her away, with much objection on the King's part. He still had some questions for that blonde.

"Your Highness," Treville asked, "Are you alright?"

Louis' eyes narrowed, "No."

A/N: Haha! Did I fool any of you? No? Did you like? No? Sorry, but I needed Corinne to get beat up. It just had to happen. *Evil laugh* Did you notice the chapters are getting longer? No? Whatever….. Haha. Anyway, thank you for reading and remember to review! Bye!

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02


	8. Secrets, Lies, and Arrows?

Isabel had not left her room for nearly two weeks. She didn't want to face her father after what had happened. She hated him.

"Izzy?" Coraline knocked on her door, "Won't you come out?"

Isabel sighed, "No, Cor, I can't. I'm never coming out."

Coraline lit up suddenly, "Do you 'wanna have swordfight?" She started singing, "Come on let's go and-"

Isabel laughed, "Cut it out, Coraline. I'm not leaving."

Coraline groaned, "Okay, bye…." She sang again and left.

Isabel laughed again, "You should really stop hanging out with this 'Anna' character, you hear?" She yelled.

"But she's so cool! And she sings a really catchy song."

"She's also eighteen and a princess."

Coraline shrugged outside of the door. "Eh, who cares?" And at that she ran away.

Isabel lied down on her bed and sighed. "Zac, I hope you're okay." She suddenly came to a realization, "Paris. He's in Paris!" She laughed and jumped up. The blonde grabbed a satchel and filled it with a pouch of money and a couple of biscuits left over from her midday meal. The girl also grabbed her sword. She climbed out her window and ran to the stables. She saddled her horse, Joan, and left before anyone could see. Well, almost.

"Izzy, where are you going?" Coraline asked suddenly appearing.

Isabel gasped, "Coraline! What are you doing here?" The blonde glanced around.

"Watching you leave me." She said sadly.

Isabel sighed, "I'm sorry, but-"

"Oh, Isabel," Coraline started, "Go be with your true love."

Isabel scoffed, "What do you know about true love?"

Coraline frowned, "More than you. All you know is how to shut peop-"

"Coraline stop hanging out with that red-head!"

"Fine, and bye!"

Isabel nodded and took off riding. She didn't stop. She looked back and saw Coraline waving.

"Izzy has left the manor!"

**The five girls** were in their apartment. Viveca was working on her sewing, Renee was writing some music, Aramina was dancing as usual, and Layla was writing in her diary. Corinne was in the bath with the door closed. The four girls in the other room started whispering.

"What do you think happened to her?" Viveca asked.

Aramina sighed, "Maybe she was taken hostage and tortured!" She shrieked.

Renee rolled her eyes and groaned. "Guys, as much as I'm worried about her too, don't forget that Corinne is stronger than all of us combined and can handle herself."

Layla quietly scoffed while the others nodded in agreement. The raven-haired girl just kept writing.

"What are you writing there, Layla?" Said Aramina who was peaking over at her work.

Layla pulled away annoyed, "It's called a diary, and it is private."

Aramina seemed hurt, "Oh," She started, "Sorry." And she solemnly walked away.

Renee stared at the two girls for a moment, puzzled, but then heard a knock on the door.

"Your highness," She opened the door for him, "Please, come in."

The other three girls looked up, "Your highness!" They said in unison.

Louis chuckled and nodded, "Girls," he turned to Renee, "Where is Corinne?"

"In the bath, Your Maje - wait!"

Louis had opened the bathroom door revealing Corinne naked, wrapped in a towel.

Corinne jumped in surprise and quickly grabbed a robe, "_Was zum Teufel, du Idiot_!" She shouted in German.

Louis walked and stood directly in front of her, "Corinne, I'm not letting you leave here clothed until you tell me the honest truth about what happened."

Corinne glanced at the bathroom doorway where her friends are standing. "Go away!" She shouted, "You do not need to hear this conversation." When they left she turned back to Louis, "I-I-I ran into a pole." She lied very unconvincingly.

Louis tilted his head, "You went missing for two days because you ran into a pole?"

The blonde smiled weakly. "Yes."

Louis sighed and literally dragged her into the other room. He pointed a finger at her, "Corinne," He spoke gruffly, "You tell me really what happened are we're going to have a problem, and trust me on this, you have never seen me truly angry before." He stared at her with so much intensity, it nearly made her crack.

Corinne watched his eyes in awe. She thought she had a glare, but his usually kind eyes were now shooting daggers through her soul. The blonde gulped, "I-I-I was walking that morning and I was forced into an alley by someone. We fought for a while, but I couldn't handle it. They took me to their secret chamber, but I left."

Louis nodded. He now spoke softly, "Corinne, who are they?"

"They're….." She sighed, "I can't say, Louis. I'm so sorry."

Louis felt anger building up inside of him. "Why not?" He said through gritted teeth.

Corinne felt about ready to run out the door with nothing on but a robe. "I promised not to."

"Why can't you say who attacked you, Corinne." Louis stated, staying as calm as he possibly could for the blonde's sake. She had never seen him really mad and he hoped to keep it that way.

Corinne looked at her bare feet, "Because I can't."

"Why not?" He yelled at her.

"Because it would be against my moral to do that." She said getting angrier by the second.

Louis turned confused but still very angry, "Why is it against your morality to tell your to tell your loved-one the identity of an attacker?" He yelled at her.

Corinne started tearing up, "Because…..Because…" She looked at the floor, "I'm sorry, but I can't say."

The blonde tried to run out the door, but Louis grabbed her wrist. "Why?" He asked, "Why can't you say anything to me?"

Corinne tried to get out of his wrist hold, but felt obligated to answer. "The answer is the same reason I got attacked…. It's complicated." She then got out of his hold on her wrist and ran into the bathroom to change. She was not running away naked.

"Corinne!" He knocked on the door. "Please tell me why you are protecting this person? They attacked you." He told her through the door.

Corinne rolled her eyes as she got dressed. "You think I don't know that, Louis? I sort of have proof." She paused, but soon continued. "Oh, and what has happened to Jackson? You didn't like- I don't know- burn him alive did you?"

Louis laughed, "No, but he did get a good lashing from Treville. It's my fault really. I shouldn't blame him."

Corinne shook her head. "Uh…yeah, you should. You don't know how awful he is to the poor." She shook her head. "He was going to hit a child with a whip, but I stopped him before he could touch him."

Louis groaned. "Was that the day he had a black eye and a fractured elbow and he refused to say what happened?" He folded his arms.

Corinne laughed nervously. "Maybe, but-" She was cut off by Louis.

"Corinne, stop changing the subject." The brunette demanded. Corinne opened the door. She had a white shirt, a dark red skirt, but no vest and her hair was wet and hanging down onto her shoulders. Her crystal blue eyes pierced his brown ones. She stared at him, putting the young king into something like a trance, but he looked away after a moment. "_Voulez-vous arrêter de faire ça!_" The brunette backs up and turns away from her.

Corinne leaned in the doorway of the bathroom. "Do what?" She asks not-so-innocently. "Staring at you? Do my eyes repulse you or something?" she walks over to him.

Louis grunted, not so enthused. "No, your eyes are actually quite beautiful, but," he turns around, "I need you to stop putting me in a trance."

She mocked a gasp. "A trance? You think I'm a witch? Am I to be burned at the stake?"

Louis looked at her calmly. "Yes, actually." He grabbed her arms and held them behind her back in an 'I'm being arrested' sort of way. He smirked at her. "Your execution will be tomorrow at dawn."

The blonde whimpered mockingly at him. "Show mercy, your highness."

Louis grunted. "Why should I show mercy to a witch?" He asks her un-amused.

"Because you love me." The blonde stated simply.

Louis snapped out of it again and let her free from his wrist hold. "Oh my-" He cut himself off. "Corinne, tell me why you are protecting this person who attacked you." He threatened. "Did they threaten you?"

"No."

Louis stopped pacing. "Did they threaten your mother?"

"No." She repeats.

"Did they threaten-"

She cuts him off, "No one threatened me, Louis." She rolls her eyes. "Why can't you just let this go?" Corinne sits down at her desk and grabs a paper.

Louis puts his hand on the paper to stop her from doing whatever. "You disappeared for two days with no explanation and you expect me to immediately 'let it go'?"

She nodded and moved his hand off her paper herself. "Yes, now let me work." She dips her pen in ink and begins writing while Louis watches with a sour expression.

Louis grabs the paper and hides it behind his back. "Not unless you tell me what a want to know."

Corinne shrugged and stood up. "I didn't want to complete that anyway." She flashes a smile and starts walking away.

Louis follows her through the door of the apartment and down the stairs. "Louis, stop following me." She says annoyed.

The brunette rolled his eyes, but did not stop following her. "Nah, I'm good." He tells her casually.

Corinne rolls her eyes, but as soon as she does, an arrow narrowly misses her face and lands on a tree. "Louis we need to get back to the palace now or we are dead meat." The two start running. Corinne is on high alert, but no more arrows come. When they get back to the palace, Treville runs up to them.

"Sire, are you hurt?" He asks frantically.

Louis shook his head, "No, but I'm pretty sure whoever shot that arrow wasn't aimed for me." He looked at the blonde next to him. "It was aimed at her."

Treville stared the blonde down. "Corinne, I want you to tell me on oath, do you know who your attacker is?" The older man asks her very unhappy.

Corinne gulps. She's being stared down by two men whom of which are of higher authority than her. She stutters for a minute, "Um…I-I….Well, you see, I-It…er," She stops and looks at the ground. "Yes, I know who it is."

Treville frowns. "And why won't you say who it is, Corinne?"

Corinne looks at him solemnly. "I'm sorry, but I-I just can't tell you."

Treville shakes his head disappointed. "Corinne, don't tell the others I said this, but you are the best Musketeer I have so if you're a target for who knows what, I need to know."

Corinne smiled weakly. "I'm not telling you who it is, sir, but I can tell you that whoever attacked me, did not shoot that arrow."

Treville stared at her for a moment, but finally said, "We have two different attackers on our hands?"

Corinne nods. "Yes sir, and for once, neither are after the king."

Louis laughed, "Well, that's a first."

Treville furrowed his eyebrows, "You not being plotted against?" He asks confused.

"No," Louis points at Corinne, "Her calling me 'the king'." Corinne smacked him on the arm. "Did I say something wrong?"

Treville shakes his head and changes the subject. "Corinne, we must be on high alert for this threat towards you so be careful."

"No offense, sir, but why are you putting extra precautions out for me?" She asks curiously.

Treville glanced at Louis who gave him the stink eye. "Um…I have promised not to say anything." He then rushes away.

"Um, okay I guess?" She says and walks away.

Louis chuckled when she was out of earshot. "Oh, there is so much she doesn't know." He shook his head and ran after the blonde. He still wanted answers. Answers he most likely wasn't going to get. Not yet, at least.

A/N: Tada! Sorry, I would've updated sooner, but my first try at this chapter turned disastrous. Here's what would've happened: 1. Corinne would've been way too out of character. 2. Louis would be too mean. And 3. It was way, way, way too short. So, yeah.

Oh, and call me a nerd that digs way too deep, but I might know when Corinne was born. *Whispers* Well, if she was real. *Gets smacked by multiple Corinne lovers* Sorry…. Well anyway, if the real D'artagnan is Corinne's father (If she was real *Gets hit upside the head again*) he died in 1673. Well, Louis is a little less than a year older than her so Louis (As in Louis, Grand Dauphin of France, Louis) was born on the first of November, 1661 so that means Corinne was born about October 26th (Which is a month from today, by the way) 1662. By the way, if Corinne was real, (*I dodge the smacks*) she would've been ten years old when her father died. (She was born on a Wednesday. I just wanted to say that for some reason).

How's that for investigating? Heh, heh? Anyway, hope you enjoy and don't forget to wish Corinne a happy birthday next month!

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02


	9. War and Peace (Yeah, right)

It was a week later. Corinne was living in the palace temporarily until they could find the person who shot that arrow at her. She was practically grounded by Monsieur Treville although he called it 'lockdown', but they both knew he meant grounded. The way he said it told it all.

"Corinne, how long have you been a musketeer?" Isabel asks her.

Layla's sister had arrived a few days before and was just about idolizing the blonde and the other girls. She was the sweetest thing in the world, but when you question her abilities, that's when she gets mad. She wanted to join the force, but she was outvoted by Treville, Louis, and even the girls so she went and pouted for a day.

Corinne laughed, "About," She thought for a moment, "Two years."

Isabel followed her through the hallways of the palace. "How long have you and the King been together?" The younger blonde waggled her eyebrows.

Corinne blushed, "Maybe a year. I have no idea." She kept walking, still trying to make the person leave, but obviously not succeeding.

Isabel smirked devilishly. "Do you think he'll propose any time soon?"

If Corinne had been drinking something, it would've been all over the floor. She looked at her feet. "Why would you think that?"

"Oh," She laughed at Corinne's face, "No reason."

Corinne stopped in her tracks and faced the other blonde, "Isabel," She stared into her blue eyes, "Shouldn't you be training with your sister by now?"

Isabel shrugged, "I have twenty minutes." She glanced at Corinne and smiled, "What? Do you feel the need to change the subject?"

Corinne blushed again, "Well, I just don't like talking about our relationship."

"I understand that. But, just so you know," Isabel playfully grabbed Corinne's shoulders. "I have no doubt that someday all of France will be bowing down to you."

Corinne wiggled out of her grasp. She blushed again, "Um….Okay, but just so you know, I don't like the bowing."

"Do you speak from experience?" The younger blonde presses.

She hesitated for a moment, but answered. "Well, kind of. Louis pulled a prank on me. He told everyone in the palace to bow down to me for April Fools' Day and it was really annoying." Isabel snickered, "Seriously, it was awful. Even Treville got in on it."

That was it for Isabel. She burst out laughing a second later, and kept at it until she was barely able to stand.

Layla turned a corner and walked up to them. "What's so funny?" She did not laugh or even smile. She just kept a sour expression on her face.

Isabel slowly regained her composure. "Oh," She said out of breath, "Corinne was just telling me a story."

Layla glanced at Corinne. "Whatever about?"

Corinne felt very uncomfortable. She didn't know why, but every time she was around Layla it made her more awkward than anything possible. "Um…nothing important," The blonde glanced at a clock on the wall, "Oh, look at the time." She chuckled nervously and excused herself.

She didn't lie. She really did have somewhere to be. Well, not really. Let's just say avoiding Louis….and not succeeding very well.

"Corinne!" He called to her after spotting her down the hallway. "Corinne, we still need to talk." Louis ran up to her.

The blonde stared at him with a very high amount of annoyance. "Louis, you have been pestering me for a week about this, but read my lips," She paused as he watched her, "I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHO IT IS, OKAY?" She yelled and started to walk away, but stopped and added, "And, don't you dare grab my wrist." She turned back around and walked away.

Louis stood there in shock for a moment, but finally said, "I'm just trying to protect you,"

Corinne stopped in her tracks, "You don't have to protect me," She smirked, "I'm not afraid."

Louis walked over to her and grabbed her hands. Corinne gave him a warning glance, but Louis said, "Hey, you said the wrists."

She smiled, "You're right, I did, didn't I?"

Louis let go of her hands. "Corinne, you have been avoiding me for the past week and I'm getting worried about you." He looked into her eyes.

She laughed slightly, "Louis, there is no need to be worried."

"Are you sure? You got beat up pretty bad."

Corinne rolled her eyes and sighed, "Louis, I told you that it was Jackson who did most of the damage." He nodded and was about to speak, but the blonde stopped him. "If there was something I could be more sure about than anything," She paused for dramatic affect. "It's that I know this person and she knows me and she would never do anything as to hurt me again."

Louis looked at her confused. "Wait, this person….is a girl?"

Corinne's eyes widened, "Oops," She said annoyed at herself. "Well, yeah. The person who attacked me is a girl." Louis' puzzled look did not waver, "Wait, you thought that I was beaten up by a man?" The blonde laughed, but stopped almost immediately. "Listen to me, 'Your Highness'," She says mockingly while walking toward him, causing Louis to have to move backward. She points her finger at the brunette. "I will never, and I mean never, lose a fight to a man. You got it?" She glares at him and he nods because that's the only thing he could do because, well, his back was, at that moment, pinned against a wall.

"Um…okay," He stutters uncomfortably.

Corinne lets him free and claps her hands. "Perfect!" she smiles at his bewilderment, "Oh, stop, come on!" The blonde literally drags him away.

**It was about** three in the morning. Corinne layed in her bed, wide awake. The blonde eventually convinced Treville to 'unground' her so she was back to her own place. She thought about what was happening in her life.

She sighed at the sleeping Layla, who was on an extra bed. "Why'd you have to come and make things so complicated?" She whispered to herself.

The blonde was about to fall asleep for the first time that night, but she heard someone running up their apartment stairs so she jumped up and grabbed her sword.

The person, a musketeer, barged in, but Corinne did not see that it was a musketeer, so she instinctively pounced on him. "Corinne, stop! Show mercy!" He cried and everyone else in the room bolted awake.

Corinne gasped and got off the poor man. "Pierre, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

Pierre rubbed his head. "Uh, maybe," He stood up and faced all the girls. "Treville…..he-he wants to see all of you."

The girls looked at him confused. Renee steps forward. "For what?"

Pierre scratched his neck. "Uh, you probably want to go to him first." He says nervously.

Viveca crossed her arms and grunted. "At this hour? We're not even dressed and I need my beauty sleep." She eyes him like he's a person who just messed with her dress.

"Just go see Treville." Pierre demanded and runs out the door as if the room was on fire.

The four girls sigh and get dressed. As Corinne brushes her hair she asks, "What do you think this is about?"

Renee shrugs while she puts on her boots. "Who knows? The last time we were woken up like this, it was because there was a rat in the palace kitchen." The five girls laugh.

"Does anyone find it odd that, Treville, a grown man and the captain of the Musketeers, is scared of a rat?" Aramina asks them, grabbing her fans.

Layla rolls her eyes. "Can we just leave already?"

The other four look at each other. "Uh, yeah, I guess." They say and leave their apartment.

The five girls run to the throne room where they meet Treville and a couple other musketeers.

"What's going on, Monsieur Treville?" Corinne asks him.

Treville just gestures for all of them to follow him. They walk to the king's office. Two musketeers, who are guarding the door, nod to Treville and the man opens it. Louis is tearing his office apart for something while he has at least five of his advisors talking at once.

Louis looks over to Treville and walks up to all of them. He was dressed, but still looked half asleep. "Make them stop!" He says to them over the advisors' yelling.

Treville does as he's told but fails. The others try it as well, but also fail. Corinne rolls her eyes. "Amateurs," She mutters to herself, "SHUT IT!" The blonde yells. That got their attention and they look at her with sour expressions.

"Mademoiselle Corinne," Monsieur Delmore stares at her, "What gives you the right to interrupt us?"

Corinne crosses her arms. "The same right that gives you permission to kill him," She points to Louis who stares at her like she just grew two more feet. The blonde continues, "Oh wait, there is none." She smirks while Louis laughs, "Okay, now what's going on?"

Louis and Treville glance at each other. "The King of England," Treville starts, "has declared war."

Corinne rolls her eyes and laughs. "Ha!" But then she turns serious, "Wait, is this legitimate?"

Louis nods. "Do you remember that message that we received the day Zac Eberhardt arrived?" He asks her.

She smirks, "You mean the mumbling idiot?"

"Hey!" They hear a call from a corner of the room which just happens to be Zac.

Louis laughs and nodded at her, "Well that message is-"

"-the real deal," She finishes for him. The blonde puts one hand on her head, "_Oh, __merde__._" She says wide-eyed.

Louis chuckles at her for a second, but then composes himself. He points to a map of France on his wall, "The English troops are attacking by ship on the Normandy border as we speak." The brunette tries to be composed, but Corinne can sense the panic in his eyes. She didn't blame him. This was the first situation of this kind that had come up in his reign (Which is currently only two years).

Treville nodded his head. He walks up to the map and points to a certain spot on it, "And we are horribly outnumbered so must send more troops to the border."

"Exactly how many troops, Monsieur Treville?" Renee piped up suddenly.

The man cringed, "Well, we are talking about the strongest navy and army in the world. I would say in between four and five."

Corinne stares at him confused, "That's it?"

"You don't think four or five hundred troops will be enough?"

Corinne laughed slightly and shakes her head. The blonde walks up to the map and grabs a stick to point with. "Monsieur Treville," She nods to him and looks at all of the people in the room.

"Corinne," He threatens, "What are you-"

Louis holds up a hand to silence him. "Let her speak." He demands, not taking his eyes off the blonde.

Corinne smiles gratefully and continues, "As you said, Monsieur, we are dealing with the strongest military force in the world." She pauses, "Well, I don't believe that four or five hundred troops are going to make the cut." the blonde points at the border of Normandy to the English Channel. Treville opened his mouth to object, but immediately closed it again.

Louis nodded his head, "Which means," He gestures for her to continue.

Corinne smiled at his unknowingness, "It means," She pauses, "They are going to send over fifteen thousand Redcoats with muskets to invade France so I honestly can't see us winning with a mere five hundred troops."

"What are you suggesting, Miss D'Artagnan?" Louis asked her. Corinne glared at him for a second because the use of formal address, although she knew it was only appropriate for this situation.

Monsieur Delmore leaves a snarled expression on his face as he walks over to the blonde. "So you're saying that we should endanger the lives of fifteen thousand men?" He comes closer until he is practically in her face, glaring at her.

The glare obviously had no effect on her. She smirked, "No, sir, I am not."

"Then what are you suggesting?"

"I'm suggesting, Delmore, that we send out twenty thousand troops of ten men each to the English/Normandy border."

There were several obtrusive gasps, "Twe-twe-twenty thousand?" He exclaims.

"Yes, twenty thousand."

"And how do you suppose we do that? Just, take every man in France and force him into uniform?" He laughed mockingly, "I don't think so." The man shook his head.

"Do I have to do the math on everything?" She rolled her eyes and looked at Louis, "Get me some paper." She demanded and the king immediately obeyed. He gave her the paper and a pen and she immediately started writing down things. "Watch and learn, men." Everyone looked at her in astonishment while her hand quickly glided down the paper while leaving a trail of ink behind. It was pure math. After she was done she looked back at them, "There you have it. We have around twenty million people right now so just look in the census, find young men under forty, and send out a notice saying they will receive some great honor if they choose to enlist. And, bam, you have over twenty thousand men, at your doorstep, already fantasizing about kicking one of them Redcoat, English, white-wig butts."

Everyone in the room, except for Monsieur Delmore, snickered. He furrowed his eyebrows, "Well, where will you be in this, Miss D'Artagnan? Just be standing by, watching these men die?" He was challenging her. That was not a good idea.

Corinne scoffed, "Little do you know, Delmore, I plan on enlisting as well." Everyone gasps, especially Louis.

"What?" He asks her, "You're enlisting?"

Corinne laughs slightly, "Yes, Louis-"

Delmore cuts her off, "How dare you use such informal address with the kin-"

This time it's Louis who does the cutting off. "Hey Delmore?"

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"You're fired." Louis turns back to Corinne while crying Delmore is being carried away by Pierre. "Corinne, that's what the army is for. You're a Musketeer of the Guard. You're not supposed to be in the army."

"And I'm also not supposed to be a musketeer, yet I am." She puts her hands on her hips.

"Well, I'm out of here." Renee says suddenly, "How about you guys?" The three other girls agreed and quickly left the office with Treville and the other musketeers behind him.

Louis turns back to Corinne, "Corinne, we're talking about the army, not being a musketeer." He says seriously.

Corinne looks at him astonished, "Are you saying that I can't enlist?" She felt anger build up inside of her.

Louis shook his head, "No, no, no," He pauses, "Well, actually, that is exactly what I'm saying. Corinne I am not letting you enlist." He sits in his desk chair casually, like nothing just happened.

"What?" She says through gritted teeth.

"You heard me." He looks up at her hurt face. "Oh, don't give me that look! You get your way every day on everything, but I am standing my ground at this."

"Listen to me, Louis." She starts, "I am enlisting and you can't stop me."

Louis bolts up and stands in front of her. "No, listen to me, Corinne." He states very forcefully, "You are not enlisting."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"Why?" She asks again.

Louis sighs and softens a bit, "Because I need you here. I need to know you're okay."

Corinne smiles slightly and takes his hand. "Louis, I'll be fine."

Louis nods. He knew she would be fine, but he just couldn't let go of his fear of her getting hurt.

"Will you let me go?" She asks him.

Louis gulps and thinks for a moment, and, knowing he would not win this argument, finally said, "Yes."

Corinne practically jumped into his arms and embraced him. "Thank you." She said.

Louis hugged her back. He sighed, "Whatever," He muttered in her ear. "You know it's really sad when I can be bossed around by a teenage girl."

The blonde laughs, "Oh, come on, Louis. You're barely twenty and you actually think you should be able to stand up to a female, teenage, musketeer with a very pointy sword? Do you have a crush on crazy, or something?"

Louis laughs a little. He keeps his arms around her as does she. "You do know it's three a.m., right?"

Corinne sighs slightly, "Yeah," she says simply and looks up at him.

"You need to sleep."

"Yeah, I know."

"You aren't sleeping today, are you?" He asks her with a smirk.

She shakes her head, "Nah, I've got better things to do."

He lets go of her and stares into her eyes, "Corinne, you know you're amazing, right?"

The blonde smiles at him, "Why would you say that?" She walks over to the map on the wall and traces the English/Normandy border with her finger.

Louis walks over to the map also, "Well, for one you're a Musketeer." He touches Paris on the map , "Two, you made my advisors shut up for once." Corinne laughed, "And three-"

She cuts him off. "I'm a really good kisser?" The blonde takes a step towards him and smiles.

He laughs at her, "Well, I actually was going to say that you have better military training that any man on the planet, but that works too." Corinne leans in, as does Louis and pretty soon they end up in a sweet and meaningful kiss.

A/N: Eeek, update! Okay, well, I am genuinely sorry for making you wait (Not really), but life got in the way (One sport, one other class, band, scouts, school, siblings, etc. to be exact). I promised myself I would update today and her it is! Oh my gosh, there are nearly 3,000 words in this chapter. Well, anyway, guess what today is! It's my birthday! Well, I am updating this really late so it's more like yesterday was my birthday depending on your time zone. Haha. Whatever, enjoy and review!


	10. A Departure With No Goodbyes

A/N: Who thinks Part of Me by Katy Perry would be a great theme song for Corinne? I do.

Corinne woke up around seven a.m. when the sun was just above the horizon. Louis had insisted on her going to sleep for a couple hours although it had very little help on her insomnia.

She sat up and yawned. The other four girls were also just waking up too. They all had a big day ahead of them.

Renee was the first to speak. "Are you guys ready?"

Viveca groans, "No."

"Well, we're doing this for France, so we have to be ready." Says the always optimistic, Aramina. The red-head stands up and walks to her trunk where her clothes are. She opens it and takes out her Musketeer dress.

"You know," Viveca sits up and looks at them all, "If we ever get to meet that King Charles II, he will be running for his life." The brunette stands up and warily walks over to her own trunk of clothes. "By the way, I'm guessing that we'll have new uniforms considering this is the army." She sighs.

Layla yawns, "Okay, your point."

Viveca grabs her own dress and closes the trunk, "My point is that it's not fair considering I had so little time to mentally prepare myself for dressing like-like" She shutters, "like men."

Corinne laughs, "Sorry, Viveca." She stands up and starts unpinning her hair. Pieces were falling out because she never got around taking it out of her bun from last night. The blonde winces after accidentally pulling some of her locks, "Hey Layla," She asks the raven-haired girl, "Where is Isabel?"

Layla looks around confused, "She was here last night. She's a deep sleeper so she wasn't woken up when Pierre came barreling through the apartment."

Renee smiles, "Let me guess." The girl stood up and started cleaning up her desk. "She woke up, found out about the war, and is now pestering Treville and the King to enlist." The girls shared a laugh.

"Pretty close."

**The five girls **were ready by seven thirty. They all walked down to the palace and entered through the side entrance. As soon as the five walked inside they heard a lot of talking, no, arguing, with both voices known.

"Please, please, please!"

"No."

They walked over to the doorway leading to one of the halls of the palace and saw what appeared to be Louis and, sure enough, a pestering Isabel.

"But why?" She complains.

Corinne laughs, "Louis!" She runs over to him and grabs his arm.

Isabel lights up. "Great, Corinne, it's you. Tell the King to let me enlist in the army." The younger blonde crosses her arm and stares Corinne down.

Corinne does exactly the same thing. "Nah, I'm good."

"But, why not?"

"Because it is not in my place to boss around the king." Louis laughs. The blonde turns to him, "What's so funny?"

He shook his head, "You."

Corinne rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Isabel, go and clean something, will you?" Isabel huffs and begrudgingly stomps away.

Viveca, Aramina, Renee, and Layla all step away for a moment giving the two some space for the last moments they have together.

After the four left, the remaining duo stood awkwardly together.

Corinne looked at the floor, "Um…" She sighed, "Louis, I-I-I'm really sorry."

"For what?" He asks her startled, yet amused. She never apologizes for anything.

The blonde forced herself to look at him. Tears streamed down her face.

"Are you crying?" Louis took a step towards her and pulled the girl into his arms. She sniffled. "Hey, don't cry, Corinne."

She couldn't help it. "I-I just don't want to go anymore."

"Why?"

The blonde sighed. "I'm afraid…I'm afraid of what might happen to you if I leave."

Louis held her out at arm's length, "Don't change your mind because of me." She wasn't convinced. "Okay, Corinne, you are strong, capable, a really good kisser, etc.," Corinne laughs slightly, "And, if I had to leave the fate of my country in someone's hands, it would be yours, but if you don't fight because of me I have a feeling that the rest of those idiots are going to either let the Redcoats come to Paris or kill themselves in the process. We need you."

It was those eyes. It was the eyes that could cut into her soul. It's his eyes, filled with intensity yet love and adoration.

She nods, "I know, but I just can't get over the fact that I could lose you."

He smiles at her, "Hey, we managed before you came."

"You 'managed' until your psychopathic cousin tried to literally stab you in the back to get the throne." She scoffed, "'Managed'"

Louis laughed. "See? All better. Now, go. You're late for sign-ins."

Corinne nodded, backed up, and ran to the castle courtyard without another word.

**As Corinne left **the palace, it was only then that she could see the line of men, half a mile long, extending through the courtyard. She approached the desk where Treville and Zac sat, enlisting the men.

Zac, before he was sent to Artois, had been a respectable captain for the French army. He is going to help lead the newly-enlisted recruits with Treville. Even Corinne thought that was somewhat impressive for a seventeen year old German immigrant to lead an army, although not as impressive as being seventeen year old girl who became a Musketeer after she and her best friends defeated a psychopath and his army after the 'big boys' were so oblivious to reality, but that's just her.

"Next!" Treville called, and a young brunette man came up to him. "State your name." Corinne stood behind Zac's chair and stared at the man. He was somewhat familiar.

"Ave-"

Corinne cut him off, "Avery?"

He looked up at her. "Corinne?" He smiled pulled her into a hug. "What are you doing here, Rinny?"

She laughed, "Well, being a Musketeer kind of requires you be in Paris most of the time, Aves."

Zac cleared his throat, "We need your name, sir."

The man released the blonde, but kept an arm around her shoulders. "Avery D'Artagnan." Zac and Treville looked at him confused so he quickly clarified. "Corinne's uncle, sir."

Treville stared at him for a moment until coming to a realization. "Avery?" Avery nodded, "Ah, Avery D'Artagnan. You must be Charles' youngest brother."

He laughed, "Yes, sir!"

Although Corinne's uncle, Avery is only twenty five. Being the youngest of seven kids, he was only a young boy when Charles, Corinne's father, died.

Zac nodded, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Monsieur D'Artagnan. We have you enlisted and you'll be called upon when we're done here." He referenced to the line, "And that could be awhile in case you didn't notice."

"We noticed, Zac." Corinne rolled her eyes and led her uncle away.

**Once the two **were out of the crowded courtyard, they sat down on a bench to talk.

"Uncle Aves, how are you?" She asks him.

"Very well, Rinny. And how about yourself? You look like you kicked by a horse." Corinne smacked him, "No offense."

The blonde hesitated for a moment, "I got into a little scuffle. It's a long story." The man nodded, "How were your travels?"

He shrugged. "Eh, it was good, but then I realized where my home really is." Corinne gave him a 'no you didn't' look. Avery sighed, "Fine, I ran out of money, but Egypt is over-rated anyway."

She laughed. "Good to know, Uncle Aves. Good to know. Wait, but why are you enlisting in the army?"

Avery sighed, "I promised I would repay my debt to France by doing something noble and I thought this was a good opportunity."

Corinne smiled proudly, "A very good one, Avery."

"Enough about me and my sob story, tell me about your life here in the capital!"

"What do you want to know?" She asks politely, "It's not like anything interesting happens here."

Avery smirked, "Well, is there any love interest in there for you, Miss Musketeer?" He waggles his eyebrows.

The blonde blushes, "Erm, no." He gives her a look that says he doesn't believe her one bit. "Okay, fine, yes, but the identity will stay a secret."

The brunette smiles, "Eh, works for me. As long as my Rinny is taken care of, I'm good."

"Oh, you have no idea." She said as her friends spotted her and ran up to the pair.

"Corinne," Renee started, "Who is this?"

Corinne smiles, "Everyone, this is my uncle, Avery D'Artagnan." He stands up and bows to the girls.

Aramina squeals, "That's your uncle? But he's so young and adorable."

Avery laughs while the red-head blushes, "Thanks, I'd like to think so, ma'am."

"Uncle Avery, these are my friends Viveca, Aramina, Renee, and Layla." They all smiled and waved at him.

Avery nodded his head, "Nice to meet you girls!"

"Are you enlisting, Monsieur D'Artagnan?" Layla asks politely, but obviously bored with the conversation.

"Oh, no need with that 'Monsieur' stuff," He said, "And, yes, I am enlisting. I feel as if I have a noble duty to the country."

The raven-haired girl nods understandingly. They all knew what he meant.

Viveca smiles and jumps out in front of them all. "Guess what I have!" She took something out from her satchel.

Corinne gasped, "Where did you get our uniforms?" She grabbed the fabric from the brunette's hands.

Viveca shrugged, "I am just amazing like that."

The uniform consisted of red trousers and a blue overcoat with white ruffles on the sleeves.

"Oh my Lord, this is the gaudiest uniform I have ever seen….And this is for men!" Corinne laughed.

"It fits perfectly, though. And besides, it's not like the Redcoats are any better. They wear powdered in battle." The brunette snickers. "Powdered wigs are so pre-16th century."

Corinne shrugs, "Yeah, I guess so. Aves, would you like to come with us for some breakfast?"

He bowed mockingly, "Why, certainly, Your Highness." It was meant as a joke, but everyone knew that there was some truth in it. She rolled her eyes. Avery's emotions suddenly went from happy to serious in a split second, "Wait, while I remember," He whispered something into her ear while the other girls looked at each other confused.

The blonde nodded and glanced at her friends and Layla. "Uh, yeah, Uncle Avery," She tried to give as little information to them as possible.

The man nodded solemnly, "Very good," He smiled and clapped his hands, "How about that breakfast?" They all nodded and walked to the castle kitchen with three out of six of them trying to figure out what just happened.

**It was around **midday when they got enough enlistments to leave for the Normandy border. Corinne was actually hoping that they would have to delay until tomorrow, but she knew that probably wasn't a good idea considering this is a war.

"Twenty three thousand enlistments from all around Paris in less than twelve hours," Treville gawked, "You really are one-of-a-kind, Corinne."

The blonde rolls her eyes and huffs, "Really, Treville, like I could be anything less."

He chuckled, "You are definitely an interesting person."

Avery walked up just then, "I wouldn't call her interesting, sir. Mad as a hatter, maybe, but interesting is a positive no. She's as boring as they come."

Corinne gasped, "Hey! I am not as boring as they come! Haven't you talked to Zac?"

The young man, who was behind Treville sorting papers, shot up, "I am not!"

Treville shook his head, "Corinne, stop picking on him. He's very sensitive." He added the last part quietly. Corinne laughed, but was interrupted when Treville called out to the people in the courtyard, "Men!" He alerted, "Those of you who have a horse, saddle up, those of you who don't-"

"Start stretching!" She finished for him.

Treville rolled his eyes and pointed at her, "What she said."

There was an array of laughs from around the large group. Corinne sighed, "I'm serious! You're going to regret it if you don't!" Again, the men laugh. She faced Treville, "They never listen to me!"

A hand appeared on her shoulder. "You better listen to her." shouted the owner of it, "If we hadn't, you probably wouldn't be here right now."

Corinne looked at the person and rolled her eyes. Louis. "Exactly."

Louis laughed, "Treville, if you don't mind, before you all leave I would like to say a few words to our soldiers."

Treville agreed of course, because it's not like he could say no.

"Thank you." He nodded to him and looked out to the crowd. They were all talking at once. Louis cleared his throat and whispered, "Uh, Corinne, if you don't mind." He gestured to the gossiping men, "I kind of lost my voice from this morning."

She laughs, "Sure," The blonde took a deep breath, "SHUT IT AND LISTEN TO THE KING!"

The attention occupying the men was immediately turned toward the blonde and Louis.

"Thanks," She nodded and he continued, "Today you are setting off on a journey to defend France from the enemy…."

Corinne tuned him out and started to think about all that she would miss about him. His smile, laugh, and overall dorkiness. She wouldn't see him for months, maybe even years. Maybe….Never again. She shook her head trying to mask the thought.

The blonde spotted her friends over by a corner and waved them over. They walked to her quietly and stood together like a troop.

"And, because I know I won't see all of you back here when this is done with, I want to express my extreme thanks to every single one of you for stepping up and defending your country in its time of need and I have no doubt that we will win this war. We will win for the sake of all of us and France." Louis saluted and the crowd cheered.

After his speech, Corinne and the others saddled up and waited for their descent.

Renee patted the blonde's back, noticing how down she looked. "Corinne, it'll be okay."

She nodded, "I know, but…"

"Well, then go say goodbye!" Viveca said.

The blonde shook her head, "No, I can't."

Renee sighed, "Since when did 'I can't' come into your vocabulary?" She smirked, "You don't follow the rules on anything." Corinne just rolled her eyes and ignored her.

A few minutes later they started riding out. She looked back at Louis and saw him staring at her. He nodded sadly at her and she smiled. Corinne felt a twinge of regret for not saying that goodbye, but she promised herself that she would be back someday. Someday.

A/N: OMG update time! I have been trying to get this chapter right and that's why it took me a week to write. I don't know how these people on here do it! Ugh! I'm pretty sure my brain's messed up after writing this chapter because when I started writing the middle through today, I turned on music and I went from Let it go in French to Let it go German to Taylor Swift to Christina Perri to Iggy Azalea (Fancy, sped up REALLY fast) to Meghan Trainor sped up and Bruno Mars and then back to Let it go French ALL ON REPEAT. Weird mix, I know. So, 'whatcha think gonna happen in da story now? Huh, huh? I know exactly what's happening next because the ending is always the part I think most about. I give no spoilers! Hahaha And, I have no idea who has read this far or has read at all, but I would just like to say, **I predict three or four more chapters in this story until on to the next item on my list** (And yes, it is partially written so should be up soon!). Thank you so much for reading this awfully long authors note** AND REVIEW** because that would make me so happy!

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02

P.S: This is what could be happening right now (If my mum wasn't asleep) LOL

My mum: "You do know it's three a.m., right?"

Me: "Yeah."

"You need to sleep."

"Yeah, I know."

"You aren't sleeping today, are you?"

"Nah, I've got better things to do."


	11. The Worst Is Yet To Come

There was practically a parade as everyone rode through town. The town's people cheered and threw confetti at the newly-enlisted soldiers to celebrate them going to fight, but it was also celebrating the sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers that would die. No one thought that the girls would die. Thought.

"I love being celebrated!" Aramina gushed, while waving at the crowd.

Corinne laughed, "They're not celebrating us, Aramina. They are celebrating all of the men that are going to die."

Her eyes widened, "Oh, right, I forgot."

"Corinne," Renee looked at her, "Why didn't you say goodbye to your boyfriend?"

The blonde looked at the ground, "I…I don't like goodbyes." She sighed, "Too many bad memories."

Renee nodded understandingly, "I know."

Ever since her father died, Corinne wouldn't say goodbye to anyone. She felt if she did, she would never see them again and that scared her to death.

They rode in silence for a while until they passed by an alley. The same alley Corinne got beat up in, but the other girls didn't know that. As Corinne rode past it, she saw what looked like someone signaling her.

She squinted at the figure and sighed, "Guys, I'll be right back." She jumped off her horse and ran into the alley.

"Psst, Corinne!"

Corinne sighed, "What do you want, Toni?" She really wasn't interested in anything at that moment.

Toni looked at her in disbelief. "You are enlisting? What's wrong with you?"

"Toni, I can take care of myself, you know. I don't need your nagging." The blonde crossed her arms.

Toni raised an eyebrow, "Hey, are you okay? You seem a little….I don't know, upset."

Corinne shrugged, "I'm fine."

The girl nodded, "Hey, is that…Avery?" Toni stared at the man riding past them, enjoying the moment of celebration.

"Yeah," The blonde laughed, "He stopped wasting his money on travels and enlisted."

Toni scoffed, "That's a first." She directed her attention back to Corinne, "So, Rinny, how is you-know-who?" She referenced to Layla.

Corinne scratched the back of her neck, "Uh, you know, very strange. Like she knows something."

The purple haired girl shrugged, "She's a weirdo. Well, maybe she does know something, but that girl is more timid than a newborn puppy."

"Maybe…" Corinne suddenly gasped, "Oh, I have to go!" The two hugged.

"Be careful, Rinny."

The blonde nodded, "I will." And at that, she ran through the crowd back to her horse.

**It was nightfall **when everyone decided to stop for the day. They had all had made pretty good distance so they would be in Normandy the next day.

As Corinne sat up her blanket on the ground, Zac, of all people, came up to her.

"Do you mind if I sit down?" He said in his accent.

Corinne shrugged. She honestly didn't really care.

He sat down and looked at her, "Hey, are you alright?" She sat down and turned away from him. Zac sighed, "Look, Corinne, I'm sorry for what I said a year ago. I was sixteen and really stupid."

"I don't think age was the problem." She mumbled and sighed. The blonde turned back towards him. "Zac, I'm not mad at you or anyone else for that matter."

"Then, what's wrong?"

"I….I didn't want to do this today." She started tearing up. She didn't want to cry. She couldn't show weakness.

Zac raises an eyebrow. "Then, why did you enlist? You put up quite a fight with the king."

Corinne laughed slightly, "I wouldn't call it a fight, per-say. Wait, were you eaves-dropping?" The blonde eyed him.

"Corinne," He stared at her amusement, "You are the loudest girl in the entire kingdom. If you call that eaves-dropping, then I am pretty sure that all of Paris, if not France, was 'eaves-dropping' on you and the king."

She cringed, "Really?" Zac nods, "Yeah, I've got to work on that."

The blonde man laughs. "Well, it's good to know we are friends now, isn't it?"

Corinne puts her hands up in defense, "Whoa, whoa, whoa….whoa. Who said we were 'friends'?" She asked as if appalled.

He stared at her confused, "Sorry, I thought we had settled our differences."

The blonde laughed, "Well, I guess I could use another friend…even if it is a mumbling idiot." she smiled and layed down to stare at the stars.

He looked up at the sky and sighed, "Isn't it amazing how we see the same stars as people from around the world see?" He seemed somewhat sad.

Corinne glances at him, noticing his expression. "Uh, why don't you tell me about your family, Zac?" She said, deciding to change the subject

He smiles at her and shrugs, "I have two brothers, four sisters, and my mother." She nodded for him to continue. "Heinrich is the eldest. He is here in France still working at the Chanel manor. What a brown-noser." Zac shook his head, while Corinne laughs. "Delmira is my big sister by a year. She is the bossiest of my siblings by far, and very annoying. Emmaline, or Emmy, is fourteen. She is very tomboy-ish and loves to run and get dirty. She was my best friend growing up." Zac smiles at the memory. "Ada and Adele are the identical twins. A crazy bunch they are. And, Josef is the youngest of us all. He is such a good boy because he idolizes me." Corinne laughs again, "My mother is just, well, my mother. She's strong, confident, caring, and all a mother should be to her children."

"What about your father?" She asks curiously.

Zac sighs sadly, "My father died when I was twelve serving in Hamburg."

"I'm so sorry." He looks at her solemnly. "I lost my father when I was eleven."

"The great D'Artagnan?" Corinne nods. "Yeah, I believe that was your father."

"Really?" She raises an eyebrow.

Zac nods at her. "Of course. I have never met him, but based on the stories I've heard, you are just like him…Courageous, determined, forgiving…..at times. You know."

Corinne blushes, "Thanks," She sits up and faces him, "You know, you should probably be asleep by now."

He laughs, "You're right," Zac stands up, as does she. "Well, good night, Corinne." He says.

Corinne smiles, "Good night, Zac." He nods and walks away.

She lays back down on her blanket and watches the people in camp. The blonde sees Viveca, Avery, Treville, Renee, Layla, and countless other musketeers and newly-enlisted men. She just hopes they don't screw up and let the Redcoats through the border and kill Louis. She doesn't know what she'd do without him and she hoped she never would find out.

"**Corinne!" Someone shook **her from her sleep.

She opened her eyes and sat up. "Huh?"

It was Avery. "We're just about to leave, Rinny. You need to get up."

She practically jumped up, "Why didn't you wake me?" The blonde started folding up the blanket and put it inside of a satchel attached to her horse.

Avery shrugged, "We all thought you needed a bit more sleep considering the amount of stress you always have."

Corinne rolled her eyes, "How would you know the amount of stress I have on myself?" She started brushing her hair, "You just got here yesterday, Aves."

Avery came up and put an arm around her shoulders, "I know my niece, Rinny." He leaned down to her ear and whispered, "And those girls tend to gossip."

The blonde face-palmed and dragged her hand down her face. She groaned, "I know, I know."

"Come on," He said, "We've got to leave in a few minutes."

She nodded and tied her hair up. The other girls walked up to her just then.

"Did you sleep well?" Viveca asked.

Corinne shrugged, "I guess,"

"Men!" Treville shouted, "Oh, and ladies, it's time to move out."

All of the men in camp started jumping on horses and grabbing their items immediately.

Corinne saddled up, as well as her friends and Layla. They all had a long ways to go before they reached the English/Normandy border, where many of them would be injured. Killed even. She shuttered. That was not the thing she needed at the moment.

They rode out at seven fifteen in the morning and headed towards the approaching warzone. Corinne's coat felt tighter as she got a nervous feeling.

"Guys," She started, "I don't have a good feeling about this."

Aramina sighed, "None of us do, Corinne. This is a war, not a playground."

The blonde shook her head, "No, it's something different." She glanced around nervously, but saw nothing.

"Corinne, you're being paranoid." Viveca piped up.

Layla rolled her eyes in annoyance and stared off into space. Corinne glanced at her and sighed, "You're probably right. I'm just being para-" She was cut off as a gunfire shot rang through the air.

"Get down!" Zac yelled at them and they all obeyed without protest.

Another shot was fired and Corinne winced when she heard a distant scream. There was an entire army of Redcoats up ahead. They didn't expect to encounter them until closer to the border.

Corinne moved her hand over, reaching for another man's musket. She knew that if they didn't stop this now, they would all be dead in no time. She hid the musket under her body, while a smaller gun was hidden in a pocket in her trousers, and she had a bigger, heavier sword. Very well armed, she was.

A Redcoat with a white wig approached them with high authority. He scoffed, "Get up, French. We're not going to hurt you…yet."

Treville slowly rose, as well as Zac. "Monsieur Treville, Captain of the Musketeers of the Guard."

"Zac Eberhardt, Captain of Sector 3 of the French Army." Zac stated, almost with more confidence than Treville.

A couple of other Redcoats joined the man. "General John Powell." He narrowed his eyes, "Nice to finally meet you." The man smirked devilishly, "I want your men searched. We find any weapons, we take them, understood?" He demanded to his Redcoat buddies and they immediately obeyed.

Corinne, being herself, managed to slip away without being seen. Someone may have thought she was deserting, but the blonde was doing anything but.

"Sir," Said one Redcoat, "This one refuses." He pointed at Avery.

The general sneered, "Bring him to me."

Avery was dragged up to the man. General Powell quickly shoved him to the ground and put his boot on his chest. "This, French, is what you shouldn't do." Avery was pulled up and punched in the stomach by another officer. He continued, "When you refuse an English General you get serious consequences," The man made a sign with his hand and Avery was punched again.

Corinne felt anger building up inside her body. She was not letting that man hurt her uncle.

"This man is a perfect example, you see?" He started walking back and forth, so calm and demure. That only made Corinne feel taunted and more annoyed than she already was. "He is an idiot, and so are you. You will not win this war because my men will-" Powell stopped when he heard a click noise. A click that sounded too much like a gun for comfort.

"Don't move." Corinne growled in his ear, holding the small handgun to his head. She had her hat rim over her face, so he didn't realize that she was a girl.

General Powell raised his hands up. "Don't do anything you'll regret, French." He said cautiously.

Some of his men started moving towards her, "Don't you move either, or by the time you get to him he would have reached his tragic demise." She kept her head down and pressed the gun to his head. "Understood?" The other Redcoats nodded rapidly, "Great, now unhand him." She pointed to Avery.

The men immediately did so and Avery ran back to his horse. "You got what you want," Powell said, "Now, unhand me!"

Corinne smirked, "But I'm not touching you, and that wasn't apart of anything we discussed." She pressed her lips closer to his ear. "I could take you for ransom and then I could end this war before it's even started….Well, that is if you're so important to Charles."

"Don't disrespect my king, French."

She laughed slightly, "Oh, it's not being disrespectful, John. It's called being casual."

He clenched his jaw, "Well, I'm certain you don't call your king by his name."

"Well," She whispered mockingly, "You certainly are wrong." Powell glanced at her, who was behind him, confused. She laughed, "I'm done with you." Corinne shoved him to the ground and started walking away, only to turn back and face him. She took her hat of and smiled.

"You're….a woman?"

The blonde smirked, "The almighty General Powell just got beat by a woman, huh? Feel humbled, yet?" She started walking away from him again.

Powell stood up and sneered. "You're just a woman. I bet you wouldn't even have the guts to kill me." He smirked at her, but some of his confidence was crushed when he got looks from the French men that said what he just said was a big mistake.

Corinne stopped in her tracks and slowly turned around to face the man. She ran over to him. "What did you say?" The blonde glared into his brown eyes. He backed away a bit. She pushed him back, "You think I wouldn't kill you?" She shook her head and smirked evilly, "You are so wrong."

"What do you mean?" He stared at her almost scared.

"I'm not the killing type, General Powell, but if you lay a hand on my friends, captain, the innocent citizens who live here, or _my_ king, I not only will kill you, but I will enjoy it too. Am I understood, General Powell?"

He just stared at her now completely afraid.

She rolled her eyes, "I said, 'do you understand'! Answer or I will for you."

General Powell's head nodded rapidly. "Yes…." His words faded out.

"Corinne. My name's Corinne D'Artagnan."

"Yes, Corinne D'Artagnan." He nodded and stumbled backwards.

Corinne smiled and clapped her hands, "Great!" She said as if talking to a child, "Now, get your sorry white-wig butts out of here, okay?"

The man crossed his arms and demanded his men to follow him. The blonde strutted back towards her horse and jumped on with, but watched her fellow comrades confused, "Aren't we leaving, Treville?"

Treville stood still, but then just jumped on his horse, as did the rest of the men. No one dare spoke a word. Corinne shrugged it off and rode.

She was back to her old self. The protective, 'touch my friends and I'll kill you' girl with a deathly glare. But, maybe that wasn't a good thing.

A/N: Update time! First, let me just say that I was wrong about the amount of chapters. There will most likely be five or six more and not whatever I said before. Second….how do you think this is going to end? I will give you a hint of an upcoming chapter. Listen to Human by Christina Perri. I am going to do something with that song and I want to know what you think I'm doing with it.

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02


	12. I'm Coming Home

Every moment she was there, she only thought of him. Every gunfire. Every scream. Every second of every day. It was only him.

It had been seven months since the French army and their alliances arrived to fight the Redcoats and every minute was torturous for Corinne. Despite the threat of being killed, that was the least of her worries. The only worry she had was of him. Louis.

Another gunfire rang through the air. Corinne groaned from where she was ducking in a ditch with a musket. "I am going to be deaf by the time I get out of here!"

Renee jumped in as well and sighed, "Ditto,"

The blonde laughed and started crawling towards another man who was shooting his musket. "Hey, can I borrow your handgun?" She asked him.

He looked at her confused, but got it off his belt and handed it to her. "Uh, sure."

She grabbed the gun and stood up.

"Corinne!" Renee tried to yell over the noise of the battlefield, "Sit down! You'll get shot!"

Corinne didn't listen, but aimed the gun and fired. It hit her target perfectly. She twirled the weapon around her finger and smirked.

Renee groaned, "Just sit down already, will you?" Corinne rolled her eyes and obeyed. "Wait, why do you keep using other people's weapons?"

She shrugged, "I don't want to waste my own ammunition."

They suddenly heard a yell and another gunshot. Viveca jumped into the ditch with a ripped jacket and sighed. "Did they have to mess with my coat?" She frowned when she heard Corinne and Renee laugh, "You guys are so mean. They never go for your coats!" The brunette folded her arms and pouted.

Renee laughed. "Well, Viveca, I think that poor Redcoat learned his lesson. Too bad he didn't know it was a girl who killed him, though. Or maybe that's a good thing. He died with pride in his under-developed mind."

Corinne clenched her jaw and closed her eyes. She still didn't like that word. _Killed_. It's just too descriptive.

She could kill someone. She would kill someone. It's her duty to help protect France. She threatened to kill that General and countless other people. But, she definitely tried to avoid it as much as possible.

She was knocked out of her trance when Aramina nearly landed on her head. "Ouch! You hit me with your heel, Aramina!" Corinne rubbed the bruised spot and groaned. "That's the eleventh bruise today." She mumbled.

Aramina quickly ducked her head down, avoiding the bullets that came once in a while. "Sorry, but I had to get away from those Redcoats." She took her hat off and wiped her sweaty face with her sleeve.

Corinne shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, have any of you seen Zac?" They just stared at her blankly. "Uh, hello?" She waved her hand in front of their faces.

The girls suddenly snapped out of their trance. "Wait," Viveca grabbed her shoulders from where she was sitting and stared into her eyes. "Do you, like, I don't know, have a 'thing' for him?"

"Who?"

"Zac!" Viveca screamed and shook her like a ragdoll. "Because if you do, I'm pretty sure that would-"

Corinne pushed Viveca's arms off her shoulders. She almost gagged. "Uh, ew, no of course not." The blonde shuttered. "I would just like to know where he is because he's one of our captains."

Aramina shook her head. "No, that's not it."

"Yes it-"

Renee cut her off. "Corinne, we're not stupid. Even I can tell there is something going on between you and Zac, and I hate romantic stuff." She stared at her with a knowing look.

Corinne sighed. "Guys, I promise there is nothing going on between Zac and I, okay? I would never, ever, ever do that to Louis. He's more like a brother than….what Louis is, so I would find it kind of gross to think of him as more than that."

Renee let out a breath she had been holding and smiled. "Good because-"

"If it were different, I would have killed you." Viveca cut her off.

Corinne raised an eyebrow. "Uh, alright." But she knew they were just playing around. Well, maybe not so much, because they probably would have freaked out and talked her into sense, but that was if things were different. Which they aren't. Probably.

"**What's the death** toll?"

"About two thousand English and fifteen hundred French, sir." Zac answered to Treville. They were sitting in a tent at camp, discussing the earlier battle.

The man nodded his head and sighed. "Very well. Call John and he will take the identities of the men who have died."

"Yes, sir." Zac said and swiftly left the tent without another word.

"**John? John, where**__are you?" Zac called to the stable boy.

The young man popped his head up from behind a cart full of manure. "Yes, Captain Eberhardt?" He asked mockingly.

Zac rolled his eyes. "John, stop mocking me."

John looked at him innocently. "What? I was just being respectful." He took another shovel of manure and threw it into the cart.

Zac gagged slightly at the smell. He pinched his nose, but spoke, "John, you get to survey the dead men and report to me whom are dead or not so we can tell their families." He smirked as he saw John's eyes widen in disgust.

"What?"

"Oh, take it easy on him, Zac." Corinne said as she walked up behind John and put her hand on his shoulders.

Zac scoffed. "Well, he shouldn't mock me."

Corinne couldn't help, but laugh. "Zac, sweetie, everyone mocks you."

"Hey, I thought we were friends?" He asked defensively, but obviously playing.

She rolled her eyes. "Who said we were friends?"

He sighed, "You did."

The blonde smiled. "Oh, right." She said and grabbed a shovel of manure and threw it a Zac's face.

He literally went scrambling to the side to avoid getting hit, but failed and got pummeled by the raining manure.

Corinne laughed again. "Oh, Zac." She shook her head and started walking away, but stopped when she was drenched in wet, cold water. The blonde looked back at the hysterically laughing man and glared at him. "You did not just do that."

He tried to breathe through his fit of laughter, and managed to squeak out, "Oh, yes I did." It was only then that he noticed her hands were in fists and eyes glaring. "Uh oh, I-uh, Corinne…What are you-" He stopped when she started chasing him and ran to avoid getting tackled. "Stop! Show mercy!"

"**What do you **think they're doing?" Aramina asked the other girls. They were all crouching behind a hay stack, watching Corinne and Zac's little chase around the camp.

Viveca shook her head disappointed. "Yep, she's definitely got a thing for him."

Layla scoffed as she filed her nail on her jacket. "You think she would have a German immigrant over a King?" She rolled her eyes, "I highly doubt that."

Renee stared at her a minute, "Excuse me?"

The raven-haired girl shrugged. "I mean, why would she do that? Even though she is fond of that Captain, I really, highly doubt that she would be with him when she has such a relationship with the king. Sure she probably doesn't love Louis, but women can be very power-hungry."

Viveca narrowed her eyes. "What did you say?"

"You think Corinne doesn't love the king?" Aramina asks her surprised.

"Well, yes." Layla answered slightly annoyed. "All of the signs are there. I'm sure she liked him for a little while, but they seemed to be drifting apart."

Renee gritted her teeth. "How would you know?"

"As I said, all of the signs are there. She wouldn't say goodbye to him, she's showing interest in another man. What more do you need?" Layla rolled her eyes and huffed.

Renee stood straight up, a lot more than annoyed at her. "Hey, I don't know what you think you see, but Corinne loves Louis more than she loves life." Layla stood up also, and crossed her arms, "And, she didn't say goodbye, only because she has a phobia against it because her father died and by saying goodbye, to her, could mean jinxing it and never seeing the love of her life again. As for the 'Zac' thing, she's trying to make a friend so that she won't feel awful this entire time here, so I would just back the heck off before she finds out about this discussion and comes at you with a sword in her hands and a mouthful of very unpleasant words, okay?" The girl stared at Layla with much aggravation.

Layla glanced around nervously, seeing only three annoyed girls with glaring eyes. She sighed, "Fine."

**It was nearly **dark, and the sky was orange with hints of blue, pink, and purple. Corinne and Zac were just recovering from their water/manure fight and both ended up soaking wet with dirt rubbed on their coats here and there.

Corinne laughed. "Well, that was a fight for the record books."

Zac, who was walking alongside her, smirked. "Yeah, but I think our coats deserve the award of 'dirtiest garment made filthy in the least amount of time', do you agree?"

"Oh, yeah."

He nodded. The rest of the way was spent in awkward silence.

After a couple of minutes, Zac spoke. "Corinne, why don't you tell me about your family?"

She smiled at his question. "Sure, why not? My mother's name is Marie. She is absolutely incredible and she never gave up on me, even though I had the oddest dream for a child my age. She also has kindness, patience-"

"Well, obviously she has patience. She raised you."

Corinne smacked him on the arm. "Shut up, Zac." She shook her head, "Anyway, that's my mother, I also have my father, Charles D'Artagnan, but you obviously know about him, and I have a sister. That's about it."

"What about that uncle of yours? Avery, right?"

Corinne nodded, "Yeah, that's my uncle. He's the one closest to my age. My father had died when he was very young. Not the best at money saving, but he's getting better."

Zac showed genuine interest. "Why does he always call you Rinny?"

She shrugged, "It's a pet-name."

"Can I call you Rinny?"

Corinne laughed, but quickly turned stone-faced. "Nobody except my family calls me Rinny."

He pouted. "Really?"

"Well, maybe I can make an exception, but only if I can call you Zac-y wacky." She shoved his shoulder and smiled.

"Uh," He glanced around, his expression as if disgusted. "No, I'm good."

The blonde laughed again. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

It was only then she realized how close they were. They were standing nearly toe-to-toe. Corinne stepped away, but Zac walked towards her more.

"Zac," She shook her head, "What are you-"

She was cut off when Zac quickly pressed his lips to hers. It took her exactly five seconds to realize what happened and when she did, she quickly pulled away and slapped him clear across the face.

"What the freaking what?" She yelled, "Why did you do that?"

Zac rubbed the part of his face where she slapped. "Uh, I-uh…sorry."

Corinne rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Sorry? You kiss me and all you have to say is 'sorry'? Well, listen. How am I supposed to explain this to Louis?" She folded her arms and watched him in disgust.

"Uh, you don't?"

"What?"

He sighed, "Don't tell him."

"You don't need to state the obvious." She threw her head back and groaned. "Gosh, I am….ugh….just go away, please." The blonde covered her face with her hands.

He nodded and walked away, leaving her alone to her thoughts. As soon as he was out of ear-shot, Corinne groaned and kicked a rock.

"Why me?" She asks nobody in particular.

"Because you've got trouble written all over you."

Corinne's head snapped toward the voice. "Who's there?"

A dark figure emerged out of a shadow and stepped into the light of a glowing torch. "Well, if it isn't little Corinne."

"Who-who are you?" She asked him.

The person shook his head. "You don't need to know that. Get her." One of his men stepped out from the shadows and advanced on her. She stumbled backwards, only to be caught by another man.

"Stop now or you'll regret it." She said a lot calmer than she felt.

The man laughed. "Oh, dearie, that won't do."

One of his men wrapped his arms around her body and picked her up off the ground.

"Stop! Help!"

She started kicking at him, managing to get free for a moment until the other man shoved her to the ground. Corinne tried kicking him, but he caught her foot before she could do anything.

"Help!" She yelled again.

The blonde used all of her strength to move his arms off of hers and when she did, she hit him in the face so hard, it nearly broke his jaw. As he cried out over his mouth, she used that time to make a run for it.

She couldn't make it to camp so the blonde decided to go a different direction. Corinne started running the opposite direction, but the men followed quickly behind.

Corinne was almost certain she had lost them, but that sliver of hope was gone when she tripped and fell down into the edge of something like a pond. She hit her head and might have sprained her ankle.

"Get her, you idiots!" She heard a voice yell.

The three men ran down, grabbed her shoulders, and forced her off the ground.

"Hel-"

Her cry for help was cut off when her head was forced under water. After a couple seconds, she was brought back up.

The leader stared at her. "Are you done yet?" He growled while she coughed out water.

"Help!" She screamed with as much energy she had left inside her. He quickly shoved a hand over her mouth, only to be bitten.

She was shoved under the water again, this time for a bit longer than the last.

"What about now?" He said after she resurfaced .

Corinne started coughing again. "What…..do you want ….from me?" She managed to say.

"I will explain when we are in England, my dear."

She was not going to England as tribute for that King Charles. "Help!" She screamed.

To her dismay, she was quickly shoved back under water. Corinne struggled. She hit and kicked, but stopped after a minute when she noticed her vision was getting darker.

They didn't bring her up for at least two minutes. Right before she was sure she was going to die, a gunshot was fired. It was hard to make out noises under the water, but she swore there was some kind of fighting.

"Get her out of there!" Corinne heard a familiar voice say.

The blonde's nearly limp body was quickly taken out of the water and laid on the dry ground. "Corinne, can you hear me?" Zac asked.

Her eyes closed, but quickly opened. "Move," Renee said calmly, "She can't breathe." She sat down next to her and started CPR.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

Renee rolled her eyes as she was pushing on her stomach. "It's a method I invented to help get the water out of her lungs.

After a minute, Corinne started coughing out water and Renee smiled in relief. Treville, who was standing a few feet away, put a hand over his chest. "Oh, thank goodness."

Corinne put a hand on her head and sat up. Her entire body was soaking wet, but considering she was alive, she nobody cared.

"Corinne, what happened?" Renee asked while Treville helped the blonde stand up.

The blonde groaned. "I was attacked by these guys for some reason." She rubbed her eyes.

Treville sighed. "Won't be the first time,"

"Won't be the last, either." Viveca added.

Zac stepped up from where he stood behind Treville. "Corinne, I think we should send you back to Paris. If you die, well, let's just say we're done for. In more than one reason, I will add."

Corinne clenched her jaw at his words and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "No, Zac, I am staying here. And I don't really care about your opinion." She was not ready to get over that situation with him.

Another Musketeer then walked up behind Treville and handed him a sealed letter. "This was left outside of your tent, Monsieur."

"Thank you, Gaston." He took the letter and slid it open. As he read, his eyebrows shot up and furrowed in confusion, but eventually he stopped and faced the small crowd of people. "It seems that King Charles II of England has decided to call this war off and is recalling his troops back to England." Corinne couldn't help but notice a small smile on his lips.

There were some murmurs as other men joined them, but many joyous 'hoorahs' echoed around. Corinne smiled proudly herself and was patted on the back by Renee, Viveca, and a bunch of other men.

Now there was no chance of any sleep for any of them, but Corinne didn't care. They were to make the journey back to Paris in the morning, which was all she had wished for this entire war.

A/N: Wow. Long time no update. Sorry, about that, but I made this my longest chapter yet to make it up to you. Sorry this may seem rushed, but I just couldn't help myself! On another note, you people are actually worried I'm going to kill Corinne off? I would never do that to any of my main characters! Well, maybe. Anyway, I may have the amount of chapter numbers off again. I'm just going to stop guessing and say that I'm done when I'm done, okay? Okay. While writing this, I listened to I knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift during the Zac/Corinne 'kiss-y kiss-y' scene, the Walking Dead score intro during the 'beat up Corinne and drown her' scene, and Stronger by Kelly Clarkson during the 'I will survive' scene. I like listening to music while I write to get me in my mood, in case you're wondering. Well, have a nice day/night/afternoon/morning and don't forget to review!

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02

P.S: Do you want a quote for the next chapter? Huh, huh? If so, here:

"_I can take so much, til I've had enough."_


	13. Human

The ride back was joyful. People from different villages cheered as they came through their towns. Everyone was smiling, even Corinne.

She breathed in the fresh air, enjoying it now that there is no gunpowder polluting it.

Aramina laughed when she saw Corinne. "Are you happy now, Corinne? You get to be with your true love!" The red-head romantic sighed in delight.

Corinne laughed in shook her head. "Think whatever you want, Aramina, but you know that I won't admit it. Like ever."

Layla glanced at Corinne and sneered. "Is it because you're embarrassed or because you don't love him?" She mumbled.

Corinne snapped her head towards Layla and glared. "Excuse me?"

Layla sighed in annoyance. "Nothing," She directed her attention back to staring out into space, but Corinne wasn't going to take that.

Renee looked as if she was going to murder her. "Layla..." She threatened.

Corinne stared at the raven-haired girl in disbelief. "No, no. Wait, you think I don't love him?" Layla didn't answer. "You think I don't love him. Why? Is...is it because of…" Her voice trailed off.

"Layla don't answer that." Renee demanded.

Corinne clenched her jaw. "No, why? Why don't you think I love him?"

"Do not answer that."

Layla didn't make eye contact to the blonde, but she spoke, "Maybe it is because you're a liar, a cheater, and a downright-"

Corinne cut Layla off and stopped the horse, causing men in the back to run into her. She looked directly at the startled girl with eyes filled with hatred and resentment. "You know, ever since you became a Musketeer, you've had a pretty big mouth and frankly, I don't like it one bit so you need to shut up and not provoke me to the point where I want to throttle you." But, she was already at that point. And, Corinne would've hit her…if it weren't due to the fact that she had promised Treville she would not hit anymore people who annoyed her, excluding the Redcoats, although she believes Zac is an exception.

"Why should I? I am entitled to my opinion, don't you think?" Layla challenged with an evil smirk. "And I don't think you have the right to tell me to shut my mouth when you practically demand everyone to do what you want without a second thought, like you are already the queen which you will never be."

"Who says?" The blonde said, trying to keep her temper the best she could. "It's not like you're a love expert."

"No, but I know more about love than you. I bet you are just with Louis for his crown and money. You know, I bet you would just jump up and kill him the first chance you get."

"Layla!" Renee yelled in complete shock.

The raven-haired girl just folded her arms and put on the most innocent smile in existence. Well, she did until she was tackled and slapped right across her face by none other than Corinne.

Layla fought back as much as she could, but Corinne had the advantage of being on top of her. "What are you doing, you deranged animal?" She screamed, causing the attention of many men to get turned towards her.

Corinne held Layla's shoulders to the ground. "What am I doing? I'm making you shut up for once!"

The blonde didn't realize until then that Zac and Treville were trying to force her off the girl, but she didn't really care. Layla started clawing at Corinne with long French nails, making her loosen her grip slightly. When Corinne ended up getting scratched across the left side of her face, she eventually just let go of Layla, but stayed on her body.

"If you ever say I don't love Louis and I hear about it, you will be sorry." And at that Corinne calmly stood up and walked away, leaving Layla lying on the ground, being helped up by the two men.

**After a verbal** thrashing from Treville, they were all back on their way with Corinne and Layla separated for obvious reasons.

Corinne watched as a city came into view. She smiled as she realized where they actually were. Due to not having a map, she didn't know their exact location, but she knew this city anywhere. Paris.

Even the encounter with Layla could not ruin the moment she was having. Nothing in the world could ruin it. She was home. Home in Paris.

"**Come on, come** on. Hurry up!" Corinne pestered. She was riding alongside Treville as they all went through the palace gates and the blonde was literally bouncing up and down in happiness.

Treville sighed. "Corinne, calm down! It's been seven months. Can you not wait another minute or two?"

"Nope,"

Treville shook his head and looked at Zac. "Have you ever seen such a character?"

Zac glanced around uncomfortably. "Uh no, sir, I have not."

Corinne rolled her eyes and walked away to join her friends, knowing that the two men hadn't known she heard them. She was thankful when she found Layla wasn't with them. "Well, home sweet home."

Aramina smiled and breathed in the air. "I can't believe we're finally here!" She sighed and dramatically put a hand over her forehead as if about to faint, "It's been forever since I've seen Paris. Aren't you so excited?"

Viveca laughed. "Aramina, I wouldn't call seven months 'forever', but yes, I'm pretty sure we are all pretty excited."

Corinne smiled and leaned on Renee, whose expression turned darker when she saw a Musketeer, one that was not stationed in Normandy, talking to Treville with a grim expression. Renee furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What happened?"

It was only when Treville's happy expression turned somber in a split second that Corinne started getting worried. She saw Treville wave Zac over and he came. They talked a minute before Zac's face turned to complete stone.

The four girls stared at them, trying to figure out what was going on. It was practically eating Corinne alive, but she didn't run over there demand them to tell her anything only because she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Treville glanced at Corinne, whispered something to the group of men, and started walking towards the girls very slowly.

As soon as they got to them, Treville turned towards Corinne. "I think we should talk."

She nodded and started walking with the men, but turned around and mouthed "come with me," to the girls. They followed her immediately.

The group was led to a small parlor inside the palace. Corinne watched Treville as he started speaking.

"Corinne," he started, "In a series of unfortunate events, we have received word that-" He was cut off when he choked on a sob. He waved to the other Musketeer, telling him that he needed to deliver the news.

"Corinne, the-uh…" He didn't continue.

"What?" She asked him with no sarcasm or humor whatsoever. "What's going on?"

He took a deep breath. "The King is….dead."

She felt as if her entire world went tumbling down when those four words were spoken. "What?"

The Musketeer clenched his jaw and repeated himself. "The King is-"

"No, no, I heard what you said. What…what do you mean he's dead? How?" She asked, standing stock still, barely able to breathe.

"I…I don't know."

"You don't know? How could you not know?" She took a step closer to the man. "You were supposed to protect him, die for him." Corinne watched him in disbelief.

The Musketeer looked at Zac and sighed. "Please, Corinne. This is not easy for any of us. Just-"

"No, you don't get to speak." She cut him off. "You have failed your duty as a Musketeer." She started walking away when she felt tears running down her face. But right before she got out the doorway, she whispered to herself, "I have failed my duty as a Musketeer." And at that, she took off running down the hallway.

Zac was about to run after her, but Renee stopped him. "Don't. She needs to be alone."

**Corinne layed in **her bed, sobbing like she never had before. The blonde held the last thing Louis had given her to her chest, wishing, hoping, praying that this was just a nightmare and when she woke up, everything would be normal again. But, she knew that this wasn't a nightmare. It was real life.

She moved her hand up and covered her eyes, attempting to wipe them, but eventually gave up. Corinne took a deep breath and looked down at the item she had in her hand. It was Louis' dagger that he had received from Treville on behalf of his father the day he was coronated king. She didn't know why he had given it to her, but it didn't matter anymore.

Its handle was brown with dark gold embellishments and Rubies were dotted around in certain places. The blade was silver and curved.

Corinne choked on another sob as she took the dagger out of its leather holster and ran her finger along the blade. That was when she got an idea. An idea she probably would regret for the rest of her life.

Corinne jumped up off her bed, ran to her desk, and in one quick motion cleared off everything on it, having it crash to the ground. The blonde grabbed a piece of paper and wrote a message before running out the apartment door, taking the note with her.

**Zac was sitting **on the couch in the parlor where they broke the news to Corinne, with his head buried in his hands. He was a wreck. He had helped defeat the strongest military in the entire world, yet felt so powerless.

Renee sat down next to him and sighed. "Zac, are you okay?"

He lifted his up. "Are you okay? Are they okay?" He pointed to Viveca and Aramina, who looked just as pained and beaten as him.

"No, no, and no."

"Then there is your answer." He immediately looked at the floor and put a hand through his hair. "Renee, I…I really messed up with Corinne. I disowned her, lost her trust, and now she hates me. She probably thinks I killed the King, even though I would never. I really wish I could apologize, but I think it's too late."

Renee watched him sympathetically. "You'll get to sometime, Zac. Just let her cope."

"Do you think she's okay?"

Renee shook her head. "Would you be okay if the love of your life died while you were at war?"

Zac immediately thought of Isabel. He was wracking his brain, trying to figure out why she hadn't ran out there and greeted him. Luckily, before he could freak out, Renee caught on to what he was thinking about.

"Isabel's in her room grieving. I made sure a maid checked on her."

Zac nodded in thankfulness. "Do you want to check on Corinne? It's been nearly an hour she's been gone." He stood up and started walking out the door and Renee followed.

**Corinne was standing **in the graveyard. A single tear fell down her cheek as she took her sword from her sheath and stabbed the ground until it was stuck there under an oak tree. She quickly tied the note to the golden sword and walked away as if nothing just happened. But something did just happen. Something big.

"**Corinne?" Renee called, **"Corinne, where are you?"

Zac and Renee were at the door of the apartment, looking for any sign of the blonde. She shrugged and opened it, only to find a virtually clean room, not counting the clutter on the ground from where Corinne had cleared off the desk.

Zac walked over to the mess and stared at it dumbfounded. "What do you think she's been doing?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Renee looked as puzzled as Zac, which was rare considering he was considered the Mumbling Idiot and she the Smart One.

"Wait," he started, "I think I know where she is."

**The blonde walked **through the palace, not acknowledginganyone whether they called her name or not. She didn't care.

She was going to a place. The only place where she could be happy. It would probably be the worst decision she would ever make, but it just felt right to her somehow.

Corinne held the dagger down by her waist and kept walking.

**Zac and Renee **literally ran through the palace grounds to the graveyard. Zac expected Corinne to be there, but she wasn't. Instead, there was a sword with a note attached to it.

Renee walked over to it and quickly slid the note off and read it.

Her breathing hitched. "What does it say?" Zac asked, reading over her shoulder.

"No," she shook her head, "No, no, no, no, no!" Renee took off running towards the palace with Zac quickly behind her. What was in that note was unsettling to no end.

**Corinne took a **deep breath and opened his door. Louis' door. She walked in and took it all in. The room was no different from when she last saw it except for one small detail. He wasn't there. He wasn't there sitting at his desk or in the bathroom or on his bed. He wasn't there. He wasn't there because he's dead. He's dead. Louis is dead.

Corinne felt tears streaming down her face as she gently closed the door. The blonde walked towards the bed and layed down on the duvet cover.

She tried to breathe as she sobbed there really was no point. There was no point in anything now, so why even try? Why live? Why live if the person you love more than anything is taken away from you in such a way that you would never see the likes of them again? Why?

Corinne picked up the dagger that of which she held at her waist and unsheathed it, exposing the sharp, curved blade. She lifted her arms so that the dagger was right above her heart.

A single tear fell down her face. "I can take so much…till I've had enough." She closed her eyes.

"**Renee, why are** you running?" Zac asked, trying to keep up with her. They were on the third floor in the middle of the palace.

She stopped suddenly, nearly causing him to plummet into her. "Zac," Renee panted, "Do you know what stabbing your sword into the ground means?"

He watched her in confusion. "Uh, no."

"It's an act of surrendering, Zac."

"So she's surrendering. But, surrendering to what?"

"Zac," Renee looked him straight in the eye. "She's surrendering her life. If we don't get to Corinne, she is going to commit suicide."

"What?"

Renee just took off running again. She knew where Corinne was.

The two didn't stop until they got to Louis' room. Zac pushed on the door, only for it to be locked. "Crap," Renee muttered.

"Wait, stand back." As soon as she did so, Zac used his foot to bust down the door.

**Corinne didn't take **any notice to the noise that came from outside the room. She knew they were trying to get to her, but she didn't care because she would be dead by the time they got there.

She took a deep breath and started to lower the dagger down to her chest, but right as she was about to make contact with her skin, a hand grabbed her wrist and jerked it back from her body.

"Stop!" She yelled without opening her eyes, "Just let me do this!"

The person would not let go of her wrist. "No, Corinne. I am not letting you kill yourself because of this!" It was only then she realized it was Zac. "You've always been a fighter. In the good, the bad, and the ugly you have made it. You can work through this, but only if you don't kill yourself." Corinne still didn't let go. "Please. If you are gone, France would have lost nearly everything."

Her lip quivered a second until she finally gave in and a let go of the dagger. Corinne just started sobbing again, but this time in the arms of Renee.

_Your words in my head, knives in my heart_

_You build me up and then I fall apart_

'_Cause I'm only human…._

"I'm sorry." She whispered after a second.

Renee shook her head and smiled. "Don't apologize, Corinne. Just don't attempt that ever again, okay?"

Corinne nodded and let go of her friend, only to find that Viveca and Aramina were in the doorway, staring at her as if frightened.

She looked at the floor as they walked in the room.

Aramina was the first to speak. "Oh, Corinne. I…I…don't know what to say."

Corinne shook her head. "Don't say anything." She looked at Viveca. "Vive-"

She was cut off when Viveca immediately embraced her. "Corinne, don't ever, ever, ever, ever do anything like that ever again." The brunette squealed. "You had me worried sick!"

Corinne smiled and wrapped her arms around her as well. "I promise, Viv."

**Renee sighed as** she walked into Louis' room or the second time that day. It was nearly midnight and most everyone was asleep.

She walked over to the bed and crouched to the floor to pick up a piece of paper. It was the same paper Corinne had written her suicide note on. The dark-skinned girl read it over and over again, trying to get over how haunting the words felt.

_To whom this concerns,_

_I can't get over the events that have happened today. My beloved was pronounced dead and that has devastated me to beyond what I can describe in words. I don't thing I can take this life anymore. I don't want to live this life anymore. I want to die and be with him again. I know this may seem foolish, but it's the only way. By the time you find this I would have taken my life in my beloved's bed. I just want to say that I do really love all of you, even though I didn't admit it in my lifetime. Tell my mother I love her. Tell Viveca to design those dresses and become the greatest designer of the 17__th__ century. Tell Aramina to keep on dancing and listen to her heart. Tell Renee that her music is beautiful. I don't think I've ever told her that. Tell Treville to make sure those Musketeers are trained better and that I'll miss him. Tell Layla to go to He-uh, nowhere. And, tell Zac that he better take care of his family or I'll kill him. Please don't mourn for me too long, if at all._

_Love,_

_Corinne D'Artagnan, former Musketeer of the Guard_

Renee crumbled the letter and threw it in a waste can. She took a deep breath and left the room, closing the door behind her.

A/N: [Insert author's note here] Uh…I really have no comment. I'm sorry, I guess. You shouldn't be surprised though. I have been foreshadowing this event for a while. Did you know that today, November the first, is Louis' birthday? Happy birthday, Lou. Great way to spend a birthday, huh? Getting murdered. I have nothing else to say, so….bye.

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02


	14. Jar of Hearts

Every moment after that day felt empty. Like something was missing from her life. Due to the events of that day, Treville had ordered Corinne under close watch by her friends and fellow Musketeers. She didn't really care. Nothing was worth caring about anymore.

It was two days after Louis was pronounced dead. Treville and the advisors decided to not have a funeral due to the circumstances. They were all now in the throne room deciding a hard choice. Who to give the kingdom to.

It was a very hard matter to discuss for anyone, especially Corinne. He had no will and no family obviously, so that left little options.

"Then that's it! There is only one other thing we can do!" shouted Monsieur Alexandre, "We must look at the lineage and pick the next in line."

Treville shook his head and sighed. "Philippe was the next in line and he's in the dungeon, Alexandre."

"You don't think I know that, Edmond? And, no, not Philippe obviously. I was thinking more along the lines of the person after Philippe." The man ran out of the room to who-knows-where.

Corinne sighed from where she was sitting next to Treville. She did not want to discuss this, but she didn't really have a choice in the matter. Well, she did, but she wanted to do this. To ensure that the next ruler of France would be fit. Not that she had much say on anything.

"Aha!" They heard a yell and a moment later, Alexandre came running through the room with a sealed file. "This, my friends, is the lineage King Louis, may God rest his soul, had made when he was coronated. It has not been altered a bit since then."

He opened the file and the first page he ripped out of the file completely. "Not Philippe, that's for sure. What about Monsieur Charlemagne of Bordeaux?"

Treville shook his head. "No, he is on his death bed."

Alexandre nodded and flipped to the next person. "Andrew de Castlemore of Aquitaine?"

"The lad just got pronounced lost at sea, I'm afraid."

"Duke Augustus Bellamy of Burgundy?"

"Stripped of his title due to treason."

Alexandre nodded and flipped to the next page. "Lord Hamilton Mercier of Brittany?"

"He was murdered six months ago." Treville sighed. "We're never going to find a King, Alexandre."

"Why not a queen?"

Corinne's head shot up from where she was staring at her feet behind the desk, trying not to cry. "Queen?" She eventually choked out.

Monsieur Alexandre nodded. "Yes, a queen. The next person in line is a girl."

Treville's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "But, there has never been a woman in the lineage before. One is not even supposed to be allowed."

"Well, not in the first ten people, but beyond that is fine. Naturally, we allow this because we obviously didn't believe that these men are so idiotic. This girl is the nineteenth in line and I don't believe anything has happened to her on a negative standpoint, Treville."

He nodded, "Well, what's her name?"

The man looked down at the page. "Her name is…Layla de Chanel of Artois."

**Corinne walked out **of that meeting shocked beyond what words could describe. Layla, her worst enemy, was going to be crowned the Queen of France. It was just too much.

Who knew what kinds of torture she would go through as soon as the girl was coronated. She had slapped her, yelled at her, but it was all in vain. There wasn't any point in it. And now the brat was going to become the queen. It was just too much to bear.

Corinne was not paying any attention to anything else whatsoever, so when she crashed into someone, it was surprising. It was only when she realized who she crashed into that she felt a twinge of guilt.

"Watch where you're going!" Layla snarled, picking herself up off the floor. A diary had fallen out of her hands.

"I'm sorry." Corinne apologized with absolutely no heart at all. It's not like she had one anymore. She picked up her own papers as quickly as possible until she was left staring between the floor and the girl's piercing black eyes. She noticed she had gauze wrapped around her arm, under her sleeve.

Layla put a hand on her hip and surveyed a nail. "You really aren't a picture of sophisticated grace, are you?" She said with an exasperated sigh and started walking away.

"How about you lose the one person you care about more than anything and then you tell me what the 'picture of sophisticated grace' is." The blonde mumbled.

Layla snapped her head towards Corinne and walked back over to her with glaring eyes. "Excuse me?" Corinne just glared back. "Sorry, your crush died, Corinne, but that's not my fault. It's not my problem either, so if you'll excuse me." Layla practically trotted from the room, leaving a stunned Corinne alone.

It took exactly the time that Layla was out of earshot for Corinne to burst into tears.

**Zac walked solemn **and silent down the deserted hallway of the palace. It's been like that everywhere since Louis died. Everything was quiet.

Although he stood tall, you could easily tell how miserable he felt. Not only that Louis died, but that he cheated on Isabel and lost Corinne's trust all at once.

"Why am I so stupid?" He groaned and looked at the floor.

Zac walked a few more feet before he could hear faint sobbing. It was coming from a broom closet. He opened the door and what was beheld nearly terrified him. Corinne was sitting on the floor, knees pulled up to her chest, crying into her hands.

She looked up at him. "Zac?" Corinne choked out. "What are you doing here?"

"I-uh…came to find you."

Corinne clenched her jaw and stood up. "Then what is it?"

Zac tried to look away from the blonde's red face. It looked so unnatural on her. "Treville….he said he wanted to see you."

She rolled her eyes and walked past him. "More bad news I presume?"

"No. Yes? Well, kind of both." Corinne looked at him impatiently. "It's just….We have found who killed the King. And we wanted you to see them."

Corinne nodded as she followed Zac to the throne room.

"**Open the door." **Treville told the musketeers guarding it.

The two men obeyed. Zac and Corinne walked in silently. She faced the older man and said, "Bring him out."

He shook his head. "Corinne, do you really want to?"

"I said bring him out. I am not changing my mind, Treville. I want to see the face of the person who ruined my life."

Treville stared at her a moment before replying. "Corinne, I don't think-"

"I said 'bring him out'!" She cut him off by literally screaming at the man.

In normal situations, Treville would've dismissed the person for talking to him like that, but this wasn't a normal situation or a normal person. It's Corinne D'Artagnan. The girl who had fallen in love with a King, only to have him murdered. He gave her some leeway this time.

Treville gestured to a Musketeer to bring him in. Corinne wore a snarl on her face as a cuffed man in a white shirt, black trousers, and a potato sack on his head was shoved into the room. She walked over to him and lifted the bag from his head. As soon as his face was visible, Corinne was beyond surprised.

"You," She growled.

He looked at her with wide eyes. "It's y-you?"

Corinne shook her head as she took in the sight. The man was, of course, none other than General John Powell.

The Musketeers stepped away, sensing her anger and adrenaline. "I thought I told you to stay away."

John sank to his knees and pleaded. "Please, show mercy."

Corinne stared at him in disbelief. He rose back up as she did so. "Show mercy? Who do think you are," She felt tears coming on, but she just blinked them away. She had to finish this. "R-running around leaving scars? Collecting your jar of hearts? And tearing love apart…." Her lips started to quiver. "You're going to catch a cold, from the ice inside your soul. Just….who-who do you think you are?"

"What?"

"You killed him." She took a step closer and stared into his brown eyes.

He watched her blue eyes as they searched his own. "What? No I didn't. Please, believe me."

Corinne glared at the man. "Believe you?" She pushed his back into a wall. "Who do you think you are? Begging me to believe that you didn't kill my king?" She shook her head. "No. And I told you," She leaned her lips to his ear. "I would enjoy the day I get to kill you."

John shook his head with tears in his eyes. "Please, I swear to the Lord that I did not kill your King."

Corinne just ignored him and sported a devilish smirk. "Now, how should you reach your demise, huh? How about a hanging?" She shook her head a few seconds later. "Decapitation? Whatever it is, John, I will treasure every second of it."

It was then that he cracked. "You're mad, French! You cannot do this to me! This will start a war!"

"It may, but I could also kill Charles in return."

John quickly shook his head. "No, don't do that. But please believe me, Corinne. I did not kill your king."

She glared into his fearful eyes. "Who do think you are?" She started backing away. "Who do you think you are?" Corinne stopped at the door and whispered quietly to herself, "Who do you think you are?"

**It was probably **eight in the evening when Corinne was finally alone. Usually she would be in training with Monsieur Treville, but lately the blonde just didn't feel like doing anything.

Corinne sighed as she sat down at the desk in an office given to her by Louis. A stack of papers were quickly sat down. She quickly started sorting the pieces into piles according to their content at record speed.

When Corinne was nearly halfway done she heard a voice. "You would make an excellent Queen." It was Zac. She didn't have to look. She knew it was him.

He was standing in the doorway in his dress uniform.

"Can I help you with something?" Corinne didn't bother to look up at him.

Zac walked into her office and sat down at a chair. "Corinne, I-uh…I want to apologize about that one time at the camp."

She clenched her jaw, remembering the moment. "Why?"

"Because it was wrong and I shouldn't have put you in that position. Forgive me?"

"No, now leave. I have a lot of work to do."

The look on Zac's face could not be described. He looked at the floor and stood up. Zac walked over to the door, but stopped and looked back at her. "Nobody has gotten anywhere by holding a grudge, Corinne. I'm sorry that I did that, but sometimes you just have to let things go or you'll regret it later."

The blonde darted out of her seat. "Like my father? Like Louis? I should automatically just let the people I love most go?" She stared him down.

Zac slowly walked back inside the room. "I'm not saying that you should forget them. I'm just saying that maybe everything would be better if you-"

Zac was cut off when Corinne threw a vase at his face. He ducked at the last second, fortunately, and it hit the door and shattered into tiny pieces.

"What was that? W-Why did you throw a vase at me?"

Corinne glared at him, breathing heavily. "Actually, it was a vase, now it's worthless just like you." He was about to reply, but she kept going. "Get out, Zac."

"Cori-"

"I said get out!"

He immediately stepped over the glass and walked out the door, slamming it behind him. Corinne sat back down in her chair and put her head in her hands. She didn't cry, but she definitely felt like it.

She decided a few minutes later that it was probably best to complete the work she had been doing to distract herself. Corinne had decided go on musketeering hiatus. The blonde could barely look at a sword without breaking down and sobbing.

**It was an **hour after the 'Zac situation' and Corinne was in the same spot doing the exact same thing. A knock came at the door, and, for a split second, she seriously considered breaking another vase, but this time on Zac's actual head. But, unfortunately, it wasn't Zac. It was a maid.

"Madame Corinne?" She asked with a curious look as she stared at the broken vase on the floor.

Corinne looked up from her paper work and put on a completely fake smile. "Yes, Maria?"

"You have a visitor, ma'am."

She discretely rolled her eyes. "Tell Zac, Treville, Viveca, Aramina, Renee, and whoever else to go away."

"Actually, it's not any of those people."

Corinne furrowed her eyebrows. "Then who is it?"

"He didn't tell me his name, just that he wanted to see you."

Corinne thought for a moment as she thought about the risks. She eventually shrugged and said, "Bring him in."

A minute later, a tall man dressed in a blue suit with blonde hair and blue eyes walked into the office. Corinne dismissed the maid and gestured for the man to sit down. He obeyed and the two sat in awkward silence.

"So," Corinne cleared her throat after a minute. "You wanted to see me."

The man slowly nodded. "Yes, I-uh...first, I want to express my condolences about…you know." He referenced to Louis.

Corinne looked at the floor. "Thank you. I appreciate it."

"And second, I need to talk to you about more pressing matters."

Corinne rolled her eyes and muttered, "What's more pressing than a King's death?"

He heard her, but decided to just ignore it. "It's about this girl."

"Listen, I'm sorry, but I don't match make, so can you just-"

"What? No, I need to seriously talk to you about her." Corinne watched him in confusion, but let him continue. "My name's John de Chanel of Artois and Layla de Chanel is my twin sister." He ignored the little gasp that came from the blonde. "She has always been strange, but it's gotten worse over the years. From wanting to be a Musketeer to pretending to conquer France, she's been quite creepy."

"So your point is…"

"My point is to be careful around her because she is insane. Don't let that innocent act fool you. My sister is messed up in the head." He stood up and bowed politely before leaving the room.

It took a minute for Corinne to absorb all of that. She knew Layla wasn't completely innocent. It was obvious from the start, but Layla's own brother telling her that Layla was insane kind of freaked her out.

Corinne shook her head as she picked up another piece of paper off of her stack, only to have it come crashing to the ground. She groaned as she knelt to pick up the jumble of papers. The blonde was surprised when she came upon not only papers but a book. A diary. Layla's diary.

Corinne held her breath as she picked the thing up. Part of her body screamed at her, telling her to open it, but the other part didn't agree. It said it wasn't her business. But, in a way, it was. If John de Chanel was telling the truth about Layla being insane, then the entire country could be at stake.

She took a deep breath, sat in her chair, and opened the diary. Corinne expected all kinds of horrible secrets to be in there, but there wasn't. It was only the innocent things that were meant to be written in a diary. Well, it was until she got to the entry from the day before she had arrived in Paris.

_Dear diary,_

_Father said no. Of course, that was expected, but it hurt nonetheless. 'Tis not like I really care much. I'm going to Paris whether he likes it or not. I'll do whatever it takes. I'll threaten to kill him possibly. Or maybe I should just runaway. I'll probably just do the latter. I would kill him, but I don't think my family would like that much. It's not like they could trace it back to me, anyhow. I must go plan now. _

_With love,_

_Layla_

John was right. Layla was stark mad. She had threatened to kill her father with no remorse and cover up the crime.

Corinne didn't realize how heavy her breathing was. She was also sweating. The blonde wondered what other evil things could be hiding inside the diary. Corinne didn't want to find out. She threw the thing into a desk drawer and ran from the room, feet crunching over the glass she hadn't bothered to pick up.

A/N: HELLO! I AM BACK AGAIN! Wow, it's been, what, nearly two weeks? Sorry, I really need to get off Tumblr (Follow me! Same name). This was one of those filler chapters, yet one that is essential to the plot, if that makes any sense. If you go on Deviantart, I drew a picture of Layla (Colored and Uncolored) so you would know what she looks like. Guess what? I am now a Betareader! I just figured out how to do it. Anyway, drama, hurt, angst, and a bunch of other horrible things are coming this way. Just stick with me a little longer!

~~NOTE PLEASE READ~~ For those of you asking/telling me, I am not bringing Louis back. I'm sorry, but I just can't. Sorry….again.

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02

P.S: I listened to Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri while writing the 'General Powell I hate you' scene.


	15. Justice is my Friend

_Dear Diary,_

_I only now realize how much I love this city. Every aspect of it is perfect. Well, most of it. Some of the people here I cannot stand. I wish they would just die. That won't happen, though. The king won't allow it because he loves them._

Corinne had been in her office reading Layla's diary cautiously after she was able to process everything that she had said in the ones before. She was now on the one where Layla was just deemed a Musketeer.

_The king is very foolish. Not worthy or grateful for his position, I have come to find. I have decided to switch the documents to-_

Corinne's reading was cut off when a knock was heard on the door. She literally threw the diary into a drawer before answering.

The Corinne sat up and called "Come in." as well as she could without her voice cracking.

Renee walked in a second later, sat down in a chair, and stared at her perplexed. Corinne fidgeted uncomfortably before speaking again. "Renee, how are you doing?"

She shook her head. "Uh, fine. I just wanted to check up on you. You seem…a little jumpy."

"I'm just a little tired."

"You haven't slept in three days, Corinne."

Corinne looked at the mirror that was hanging on the wall. It was only then the she noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

It was true. Ever since that day, Corinne had not slept a wink. She barely slept before that day anyway. Probably the only battle Louis had ever won with her was getting her to sleep nearly every night.

She let out a sigh. "Well, I-uh…have been very busy and kind of distraught and I really would just like to be alone, if you don't mind." Renee nodded and walked straight out the door without another word.

Corinne opened the drawer with the diary and slowly lifted the thing out. She lost the page she was on, but found the last entry that was written.

_Dear Diary,_

_My plan worked. I will be queen. I heard Monsieur Alexandre and that sorry excuse of a captain talking about the next in line. Everything is going perfectly and I have no doubt they will be telling me very soon. I can't wait to rule this land and everything in it. I also can't wait to do the one thing that I have wanted to do since I have been in Paris. I want to send that blonde Corinne to the dungeon to rot forever. It's becau_

The entry was cut off. Corinne recognized from about the time they had bumped into each other and she had accidentally had taken Layla's diary away with her papers.

"But, wouldn't she have noticed if I took a diary she had just been writing in?" The blonde asked herself as she furrowed her eyebrows.

Corinne went back a few entries. To the time she had disappeared.

_Dear Diary,_

_I bumped into Corinne this morning. Now she's missing. I hope she never comes back. She's the only thing standing in my way of the King. I want to be queen and the only way to do that is to have him marry me. Who wouldn't want to marry me? I'm beautiful and rich and-_

"Insane," Corinne thought out loud.

_overall, absolutely perfect. It's Corinne that's getting in my way, though. Louis loves her more than he loves his own kingdom and it's annoying. She's a bit pretty I'll admit, but she is also rude, annoying, ungrateful, a liar, manipulator, and I just…she doesn't even deserve him! I hope she's dead. I really do._

_Layla_

Corinne could feel tears in the back of her eyes. She knew Layla didn't like her, but knowing that she had wanted her dead even when she was nice to her made Corinne feel awful. Despite these feelings, Corinne blinked back her tears and continued to the next entry.

_Dear Diary,_

_She came back. She just showed up! Now she's in the bathroom cleaning up. I'm finding out where she went because I know she wouldn't just leave like that. I know that stupid blonde is up to something and I'm going to find out about it. She's the only thing standing in my way from the King. I must go now. Aramina is getting nosy and I can't risk her seeing this._

_Layla_

Corinne skipped probably fifty pages. To the day Louis was pronounced dead.

_Dear Diary,_

_The King is dead. I was hoping Maurice, Romeo, and Stefano would do their job correctly. I thought those idiots didn't know up from down, but obviously I'm wrong. The only thing left to make this the perfect kingdom is to rid myself of those four musketeer girls, especially Corinne. The poor girl. She tried to commit suicide over a boy. Who would be stupid enough for that? I don't get attached to people so it's easier when they die. People all die eventually. Some just earlier than others. Well, I must go and pretend to mourn now._

_Layla_

_P.S.: I will make this day a holiday once I am queen._

Corinne's mind spun as she processed this information.

"Layla was going to marry Louis but then decided to organize an assassination while they were at war? Who the Hell is sick enough to do that?" Corinne said to herself while grabbing a cloak to leave. She was going to see the only person who could help.

"**Toni?" Corinne yelled,** "Toni, please I need you! Please." The blonde was frantically searching through her apartment. Her heavy breathing and sobbing mixed into one when she fell to the floor, crying for multiple things.

Toni is gone. Louis is gone. Her father is gone. It was almost as if bad luck followed her everywhere. Everyone she loves always disappears.

Corinne eventually composed herself and made her way back to the castle.

**Every footstep was **unstable. Not because of the ground but because of this feeling in her gut. A feeling that something just wasn't right. But, nothing was right anymore. Everything is anything but right.

The streets of Paris were busy, but at the same time somber. By now, everyone had heard the news about Louis and some of the gossips about Layla. Louis was one of the most beloved rulers in the history of France and secretly, Corinne had been hoping to be the same.

She watched as two girls whispered in each other's ear while watching her. Corinne knew she was being gossiped about by everyone but it didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

She looked at the ground and studied her burgundy skirt. It was hard not to run, but it wouldn't have helped considering the amount of people on the street. Since she knew the place like the back of her hand, Corinne decided to read some more of Layla's diary no matter how awful every word felt. Corinne flipped to a random page in the book.

_Dear Diary,_

_I did it. I can't believe I did it. I switched the documents of the lineage. I replaced them with my own, making sure that every single person under me was either dead, in jail, or incognito. If my "enchant the king" plan doesn't work, then this is my plan b. I was afraid I was going to get caught because I heard a noise and was not acquainted with the palace because I had just arrived in Paris that morning, but everything is perfectly fine._

_Layla_

Corinne couldn't help but smirk at this confession. Even if Louis was dead, she will get justice. She'll get justice if it's the last thing she'll do.

_**Dear Diary,**_

_**My **__plan didn't work. She's alive. Even after all of that plotting with Maurice, Stefan, and Romeo it didn't work! That brat wouldn't keep her annoying little mouth shut for a minute or two so they could drown and kill her thoroughly! This is so frustrating! I've tried everything to make her friends turn on her, but nothing works. I'll kill them all as soon as I become queen._

_Layla_

_Dear Diary,_

_I have a cut on my arm that extends from my shoulder to my wrist. It will probably eventually become a scar. I got it when-_

"Stop right there!"

Corinne's eyes shot up from the diary to a face of a Musketeer who was guarding the side entrance. She rolled her eyes before starting to walk through. "Shut up, Pierre. Leave me alone."

Pierre just grabbed her wrists and pinned them behind her back, diary still in-hand. "You are under arrest."

Corinne could do nothing but object in little, unfinished words. "Wha-stop…I mean, on what grounds?" Her heart raced inside her chest.

"Theft. You will be reporting to the queen."

"Queen?"

Pierre sighed, "I'm sorry, I mean the future queen. You know, Layla de Chanel."

Corinne rolled her eyes again. "I know that. Why am I arrested for theft in the first place?"

"I don't know. You'll have to talk to the queen about that yourself, Corinne."

She clenched her jaw in anger, but allowed herself to be taken to the throne room where Treville, Zac, and Layla waited patiently. Treville looked as if about to faint, while Zac looked worried out of his mind. Layla just sported a happy, undefeated smirk.

Corinne was pushed down to the ground. She heard a small giggle come out of the raven-haired girl's mouth, which only fueled the fire that was churning inside the blonde further. Corinne quickly stood up and blew her hair out of her face while pretending to throw knives at the other girl with her eyes.

"Well," Corinne asked, arms folded with a hint of fear but much annoyance and challenge in her voice. "Are you going to tell I'm what I'm here for or do I have to sit here and watch you stand there like the queen you think you are?"

The dark-eyed girl scoffed. "Yes, says the girl that bosses around everyone like she's already the queen, even though she's obviously not." Layla took a few paces closer to Corinne until she was right in her face and whispered, "You'd better watch what you say because from here on out, I'm your worst nightmare."

Layla stepped back and exclaimed, "I want her thrown in the castle dungeon. Who knows what she will do to jeopardize my coronation. Take her away Anthony." And at that, the raven-haired girl started to walk away undefeatedly.

"It's Pierre." He mumbled as he put Corinne in cuffs.

Layla's head snapped back at him. "Excuse me?"

Pierre glanced around while sweating nervously. "I-uh, nothing, ma'am."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now, take her away or I will do it for you."

That moment was when Corinne found her voice for the first time in five minutes. "No, stop!"

"Shut up!" Layla barked.

Pierre tried to urge her to walk, but it was in vain. "Monsieur Treville," Corinne urged him to look at her. "Please, listen to me. Layla is a liar! She killed Louis, I know she did." This was the first time in her life she actually begged.

Layla stomped over to the blonde and slapped her clear across the face. "I said "Shut up"! Listen to me because nothing good will come your way if you don't!"

Corinne clenched her jaw and lunged for her, but was held back by the chains occupying her wrists. "No, you listen to me. I know what you did and you're not going to get away with it."

Layla just laughed. "You have no proof. Now give me my diary and be gone with you." The girl snatched the book from the blonde a strutted away.

Corinne was not done. "Zac, Treville, find your common sense for once! Please! Layla killed him, just listen to me!"

"I'm sorry, Corinne, but there's nothing anyone can do." Treville piped up and quickly left the room. Zac just watched her and shook his head, following Treville.

"No," Corinne whispered as she was being dragged away.

**Corinne was practically **thrown into her cell. Tears were building up behind her eyes and she was about to let them go when a voice stopped her.

"Corinne?"

The blonde's head shot up and she stared at the figure in the cell across from hers. Corinne's breathing hitched as she smiled. "It's you!" She bolted up and ran to the cell bars. "I thought you were gone, like dead. Thank goodness you're alive because my last hope is you, Toni."

Toni just rolled her eyes. "Now don't get all mushy gushy on me, Corinne. It's really weird. And, we need a plan to get out of here before that devil-child takes over the world."

Corinne sighed, "Toni, it's no use. We are stuck in here whether we like it or not."

"Corinne, stop being an idiot blonde. If there's a way in, there's a way out."

Corinne couldn't help but smile at her statement. No matter how rough the times were, Toni was always able to remain optimistic, if not a little frank. "Well, what do you suggest we do? Just squeeze in between the bars like a cat?"

Toni straight out laughed. "No, although I tried it once when I was in prison at Berlin and it worked pretty well besides the fact that I had bad indigestion for a week, but that's beside the point. What I mean is that we have to do what I'm best at."

"Toni, I am not murdering Pierre no matter how annoying he is."

The purple-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Not that, you idiot. I meant manipulation. In Russia, I practically got the warden to give me the key to my cell. It's easy."

"I don't know how the Russians do it, but the Musketeers don't just hand over the key so I doubt that would ever work." Corinne sighed.

Toni huffed in sheer aggravation. "Yeah, I tried that already. I think you underrate a bit. They aren't total idiots considering how many times I've tried it."

"Wait, how long have you been in here?"

Toni cringed. "Well….."

***Flashback***

_Toni sighed as she searched for any information she could find on that Layla-person, with little to no success I might add. She let her head fall on the table and groaned in aggravation. "Why is everything so hard?"_

_About a minute of sulking later, Andrew, one of Toni's henchmen, walked into the room. "Ma'am?" He questioned, watching Toni beat her own head on a table._

_Toni's head shot up. "Can't you see I'm busy, Alex?"_

"_It's Andrew!"_

"_Fine, if I call you Andrew, you can jump off a cliff."_

_Andrew rolled his eyes and sighed. "Never mind. Anyway, I found some papers here about the girl that you wanted."_

_Toni rubbed her temple. "Set them on the table and go get me some coffee." He obeyed with a mumble containing a lot of unkind words._

_Toni chuckled as he exited and picked up one of the papers. The smile completely melted off her face as she approached the third paragraph. It took approximately five seconds before bolting out the door._

"_What about your coffee!" Andrew yelled after she was halfway down the street._

"_Give it to the pigs!"_

_Toni kept running. Corinne couldn't help because she's in Normandy so it was up to her to warn everyone. She neared the gates of the palace, aware of the two sleeping Musketeers guarding it. Toni smiled as she remembered the stories Corinne told her about it._

_Toni ran stealthily through the gate, making sure not to wake the two men up. "Morons." She laughed._

_The purple-haired girl opened the kitchen door and nearly trampled Madame Helene, but managed to narrowly avoid it. Although the castle was huge, Toni knew it like the back of her hand from all of the robbery heists she had set up. Of course, no one had ever noticed because the palace was practically drowning in riches._

_Toni smiled when she faintly remembered spying on Corinne and Louis during a makeout session. She definitely thought they made the most adorable couple on planet Earth._

_She was almost to the throne room when Toni finally noticed that Musketeers were chasing her. "Halt!"_

"_Nah, I'm good." Toni smiled and kept running at high speed._

_As she entered the throne room she half expected Louis to be sitting in his throne, but what she didn't expect was for an arm to come around her body, trapping her, while a sword came across her throat. "Wha-?"_

_The person laughed. And whispered in her ear, "Didn't expect that, did you?" He released her as soon as the Musketeers were there. "A little slow coming, as always." It was only at that moment Toni recognized the man who had entrapped her as none other than Louis._

"_Your Highness, please, I need to speak with you."_

_Louis sheathed his sword and sighed. "If this is about Treville and his no girls thing, then I will be more than happy to talk with him later."_

"_No, it's about Corinne." She lied, knowing that would more than peak his interest._

_It did indeed. "What do you know about Corinne? I she okay?" He started wracking his brain for likely causes for something like this._

"_She's my sister and-"_

"_Wait, Corinne has a sister?"_

"_Yes, pay attention. You know how Corinne disappeared that one time?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Yeah, well that was with me. But the thing is-"_

"_What? You're the one that nearly killed her? Musketeers take her!"_

_Toni mentally cursed for not wording that differently. "No…I mean yes, but that's beside the point. What I mean is-"_

"_Take her away!" Louis yelled._

_Toni fought the Musketeers, but there were probably eight on her by then. "Please, your highness! It's that girl! The new girl! She is going to kill you! Please listen to me!"_

***Present***

"Long story short, I got thrown into the cell and I've been here ever since then."

"Well," Corinne stared at Toni through the bars in astonishment. "That was interesting." It was then she felt the moisture behind her eyes again.

Toni noticed. "Don't cry, sis. Everything will be alright."

Corinne smiled, but that quickly turned into annoyance. "You told him you were my sister?" She yelled.

Toni furrowed her eyebrows. "But…I am your sister."

"They aren't supposed to know that! Ugh!"

"Corinne," Toni groaned, "I think that him knowing you have a sister is the least of your worries right now."

The blonde nodded. "Right, uh, we should probably find a way out of here."

"Let's do it."

A/N: I am so, so, so, so, so sorry for the long wait. I was at camp for the weekend so I lost valuable writing time. This still is one of my longest chapters without the author's note. Did any of you think that Louis was in the cell at first? I really considered doing it but then I remembered that I'm not bringing him back alive. And I swear to you I'm not! No matter how nice I may seem, I'm not! Haha I didn't listen any particular song during this. Mainly Blank Space by Taylor Swift if you must know. Do any of you ship Zacrinne yet? I may possibly but Clouis is my OTP. Should I make Zacrinne at the end? Corinne needs a happy ending, or I might kill her off. I don't know.

Sincerely,

Weatherbug02


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